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The Tel Aviv Stock Exchange
Background
The Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE) is Israel's only stock exchange, trading over 1,100 securities of more than 630 companies. The TASE was established in 1953 to handle the rising number of securities and transactions in the years following the establishment of the State.
The exchange is owned by its member firms, which include 14 banks (including the Bank of Israel, the country's central bank) and 14 brokerage firms.
 
About TASE:
 
For the TASE Corporate Fact Sheet:
 
Banks
Bank Hapoalim Ltd.
Bank Leumi le-Israel Ltd.
Bank Massad
The Bank of Israel
Bank of Jerusalem Ltd.
Bank Otsar Ha-hayal Ltd.
Citibank, NA
HSBC Bank PLC
Israel Discount Bank Ltd.
Mercantile Discount Bank Ltd.
Mizrahi Tefahot Bank Ltd.
The First International Bank of Israel Ltd.
UBank Ltd.
Union Bank of Israel Ltd.

Non-Bank Members
Analyst Exchange & Trading Services Ltd.
Clal Finance Batucha Investment Management Ltd.
Deutsche Securities Israel Ltd.
Direct Investments House (Portfolio Management) Ltd.
DS Securities & Investments Ltd.
Excellence Nessuah Brokerage Services Ltd.
Harel Finance Trade & Securities Ltd.
Israel Brokerage & Investments (I.B.I.) Ltd.
Meitav Brokerage Services (Gaon Trade) Ltd.
Merrill Lynch International (remote member)
Migdal Stock Exchange Services (N.E.) Ltd.
Poalim Sahar Ltd.
Psagot Securities Ltd.
UBS Securities Israel Ltd.
 
Member contact details can be found at:     

 
Listing requirements
 
Listing requirements excluding R&D companies
Companies choosing to list on the TASE may qualify from among the following criteria:
(amounts in NIS millions)
 
Requirements
1 2 3

Shareholders' equity after listing* 25 35 -
Minimum public float value 20 30 80
Minimum period of activity 12 months 12 months -
Added value in 12 months preceding listing** 4 - -
Value of issue 20 20 80
Value of company shares - - 200

*Shareholders’ equity before listing plus net offering funds from shares and warrants
**Added value: Profit (loss) before taxes, plus payroll expenses, depreciation, and financing expenses, less financing income.
 
Public float for newly listed companies excluding R&D companies
The public float rate in a newly listed company must be equal to, or higher than, one of the following:
When the public float value
(in NIS m) is greater than
The public float rate (%) 
must be at least

20 25.0
30 20.0
40 15.0
50 10.0
200 7.5

Minimal dispersion of public holdings - the number of public shareholders following the IPO will not fall below 100 and the value of the holdings of a single shareholder will be at least NIS 16,000 (approximately $4,000).
 
Special listing rules for R&D companies
An R&D company is a company that has invested at least NIS 3 million in R&D over the last three years, including funds received from the Office of the Chief Scientist at the Ministry of Industry and Trade. 
The applicant company's main area of activity must be R&D, or the production and marketing of products resulting from its own R&D.
  
When the public-float value
(in NIS m) is greater than
The public float rate (%) 
must be at least

 
16 10.0
50 7.5

Additional criteria include:
Shareholder equity following the IPO must be at least NIS 8 million.
Minimal dispersion of public holdings - the number of public shareholders following the IPO will not fall below 35 and the value of the holdings of a single shareholder will be at least NIS 16,000 (approximately $4,000).
 
Trading days
Trading Days are Sunday through Thursday. The Exchange is closed on Fridays, Saturdays and holidays and often on the days preceding religious holidays. There are 11 official holidays, which are based on the Hebrew calendar.
 
Additional information about the TASE's vacation schedule can be found at:     
 
 
TASE equity activity 2000 - 2010
Year # of Companies
at year-end
# of Securities
at year-end
Average Daily
Trading
($m)
Capital Raised
($b)
Market
Value
($b)

2000 665 971 115 3.4 66.7
2001 649 892 64 1.7 57.1
2002 624 852 51 1.2 42.3
2003 577 762 80 0.7 69.7
2004 578 809 147 3.6 87.1
2005 584 911 223 3.2 112.8
2006 606 1,030 326 9.6 140.7
2007 654 1,196 505 5.8 198.0
2008 642 1,166 547 5.0 106.7
2009 622 1,097 432 2.0
189.4
1-6/2010 609 1,099 603 1.1
178.6

*excluding ETFs
Source: TASE
 
TACT trading system
TACT, or Tel Aviv Continuous Trading system, is an order-driven, fully automated open system for continuous trading, combining the advantages of a call market with those of continuous trading.
TACT employs a network of mainframe computers and dedicated trading stations at banks and brokerage houses that are linked to the TASE trading engine. Orders are routed from bank and brokerage house branches to the mainframe computer and to the trading engine at the TASE. Orders, which may be limit or market orders, are entered into the system and matched with a contra order to create a trade. Orders that do not create a trade are written in the order book compilations of all buy and sell orders until a suitable contra order arrives. When matching occurs, the trading engine alerts the workstation from which the order was entered that the trade was executed. Orders may also be submitted prior to the opening of trading to be executed at the opening price.
TACT provides investors with state-of-the-art tools for trading, while constantly improving trading transparency and liquidity. With market data distributed in real-time, it assures fairness in trading for all investors.
 

 
Trading halts suspension mechanism
When an essential announcement is published regarding a security, a 45-minute trading halt occurs in order to allow investors time to reconsider their orders in light of the new information. The Exchange will also employ circuit breakers to halt trading for 45 minutes should fluctuations in the TA-25 index exceed 8 percent from the previous day's close. If fluctuations in the TA-25 index exceed 12 percent from the previous day's close, TASE will halt trading for the rest of the day.
 
Share quotes
Share prices are published in agorot (100 agorot equal one New Israeli Shekel). For example, a stock which is quoted at 4650 trades at NIS 46.50. The TASE uses symbols for identification of listed shares. The TASE is a member of ANNA (Association of National Numbering Agencies) and, as such, it allocates and uses ISIN and CFI codes in all securities and Israeli financial instruments.  
 
 
Sources of daily share quotes 
The TASE Web site (www.tase.co.il) offers extensive market data alongside important information on Israel's capital markets. The main feature of the site is a user-friendly and comprehensive presentation in Hebrew and English of trading statistics, both current and historic. An in-depth description of all products traded on the TASE is provided for the convenience of users. All information available on the Web site is free of charge.

For more information see: http://www.tase.co.il/TASEEng/MarketData/

Vendor contact information can be found at:
http://www.tase.co.il/TASEEng/MarketData/DataVendors/
 
 
Indexes
Comparative Performance
(Dollar yields)
  2006 2007 2008 2009 1-6/2010

TA-25 23.0% 23.0% -45.6% 76.1% -6.8%
TA-100 22.3% 37.6% -50.6% 90.1% -6.6%
Tel-Tech 5.6% 6.0% -60.5% 94.0% -4.2%
S&P Small Cap 600 12.4% -1.2% -4.1% 23.8% 5.8%
Nasdaq Composite 7.6% 9.8% -9.0% 43.7% -1.6%

Main Indexes
 
The TA-25 Index is the TASE's flagship index. It was first published in 1992 under the name "MAOF Index." This index tracks the prices of the shares of the 25 companies with the highest market capitalization on the exchange. The TA-25 companies and their weightings are shown at the end of this section. 
 
TASE Indexes: New Methodology Launch
In early 2010, the TASE’s Board of Directors approved amendments to the TASE index management regime. The changes - effective as of July 1, 2010, are based on methodology employed by FTSE, a leading international index provider. Their primary objectives include:

o Improvement in stability of TASE indexes and facilitating their use as underlying assets for financial instruments, including instruments targeted at international investors.
o Construction of unified and consistent rules governing all TASE indexes.
 
The new methodology is applicable to TASE's continuously quoted equity indexes and based on the following principles:

Construction of a “Universe”
 
o Entry to the Universe is contingent on meeting threshold market capitalization, free float and liquidity criteria.
o The composition of continuously quoted indexes reflect only shares included in the Universe, and those which meet the specific criteria set for each index.
 
Entry and Exit from TASE Indexes

Inclusion in an index is based on the ranking of potential index constituents drawn from the Universe.
Free-Float Classes to Weight Shares in the Index
 
 o Shares included in the Universe are classified by their free float rate into seven classes.
 o Each class is represented by a unified free float rate.
 o The free float classes are updated quarterly.

Index Cap
 
o Quarterly adjustments to caps replace daily adjustments
o Extraordinary cap adjustments are conducted for special events, such as entry of newly listed shares to an index, and cases where a share's weight in an index exceeds the cap by at least 50%.
o Caps are dynamic and are reset as indexes are updated based on the number of constituent shares in an index.
  
Equity Indexes
 
Market Capitalization Indexes
 
This group includes equity indexes for which market capitalization constitutes the primary criterion for inclusion in an index, eg. the TA-25 Index, which tracks the average price of the 25 most highly-capitalized TASE-listed companies. Additional indexes in this group include: the newly launched TA Composite Index, the TA-75, TA-100, Mid Cap-50 and Mid Cap.
 
Sectorial Indexes

Investors interested in tracking specific sectors can do so by following TASE sectorial indexes. Key indexes in this group include: the Tel Tech-15, Biomed, TA Finance and TA Real Estate-15.
TASE calculates and publishes additional sectorial indexes at the end of each trading day, such as the manufacturing index and investment and holding company index, which include all shares in the sector or sub-sector.
 
Qualitative Characteristic Indexes

TASE manages additional indexes, including the Maala Index and the Tel Div-20 index.
The Maala Index is comprised of TASE-listed companies included on the Maala organization's corporate social responsibility (CSR) ranking, subject to their inclusion in the Universe.
The Tel Div-20 includes the 20 Universe shares with the highest dividend yield.

 
Bond Indexes
 
This group includes indexes on corporate bonds, for which the primary criterion is market capitalization, and is divided into two categories:

1. Indexes of the 60 CPI-linked bonds with the highest market caps, subject to their meeting specified conditions (i.e. credit rating, liquidity, maturity, etc.). The three CPI-linked bond indexes are:
 o Tel Bond-20 - tracks TASE's 20 most highly capitalized CPI-linked corporate bonds
 o Tel Bond-40 - tracks TASE's next 40 (i.e., not included in the Tel Bond-20) largest CPI-linked corporate bonds
 o Tel Bond-60 - tracks bonds included in the Tel Bond-20 and the Tel Bond-40
 
2. An index on non-linked NIS-denominated bonds
o Tel Bond Shekel Index - tracks all fixed-rate corporate bonds, which are not value-linked and meet the Index's threshold criteria. 

TA- 25 Companies (July 1, 2010)
Security Market Capitalization
Adjusted ($ mil)
Adjusted
Weight (%)¹

1. Teva*   49,721   10.55

2. Bezeq   5,894   10.46

3. Perrigo*   5,548   10.46

4. Bank Leumi   5,290   9.79

5. Bank Hapoalim   4,800   9.72

6. Israel Chemicals   13,315   9.70

7. Nice*   1,567   3.95

8. Cellcom*   2,483   3.77

9. Partner*   2,398   3.64

10. Elbit Systems*   2,179   3.27

11. Israel Corporation   4,808   3.04

12. Isramco*   1,298   2.63

13. Israel Discount Bank   1,668   2.53

14. Mizrahi Tefahot   2,636   2.48

15. Makhteshim-Agan   1,541   2.22

16. Delek Group   2,378   2.11

17. Azrieli Group    2,801   1.77

18. Avner   1,443   1.64

19. Gazit-Globe   1,178   1.04

20. Oil Refineries   1,022   0.91

21. Strauss Group   1,423   0.90

22. Osem   1,413   0.89

23. Discount Investment   1,364   0.86

24. Delek Drilling   1,328   0.84

25. Paz Oil   1,299   0.83

Source of data: TASE
1 weighted according to value of share float    *Dual-listed
 
Short selling
Short selling of equities, bonds and T-bills is permissible under rules of the exchange. The TASE publishes weekly short selling data on its Web site.
 
 
Off market block trading
Block trades in off-the-market direct-negotiated transactions are permissible. Prearranged trades are trades in which buyer and seller agree on the details before submitting orders to the trading system. The clearing process is conducted through the TASE Clearing House.
 
 
Market Making
The TASE enables market-making in securities and derivatives. Market-makers operate as liquidity providers, especially in low liquidity securities and derivatives.

High Frequency Trading
The TASE enables its members to take advantage of an option for high-frequency (including algorithmic) trading.
 
Derivative markets
The Tel Aviv Stock Exchange trades options and futures on the TA-25 Index and the TA-Banking Index; options on the shekel-dollar exchange rate and the shekel-euro exchange rate; and equity options on ICL, Poalim, Leumi and Teva. An average of 267,000 TA-25 Index contracts was traded daily in the first four months of 2010, compared with an average of 251,000 contracts in 2009. An all-time record of one million contracts was set on January 23, 2008.
 

 
TA-25 Options
(2000-5/2010)
Year Daily average number of
traded contracts
Turnover in terms of 
underlying assets ($m)
Maximum no. of open
interest contracts
(thousands)

1-5/2010 308,010 937,140 699

2009 251,507 1,405,368 660

2008 332,071 2,221,791 1,028

2007 384,795 2,510,862 1,317

2006 304,513 1,428,602 1,080

2005 257,592 978,482 1,055

2004 152,542 448,511 826

2003 119,808 265,498 619

2002 118,015 242,159 605

2001 110,248 270,823 570

2000 108,785 343,991 659

Clearing, registration, custody
The Tel Aviv Stock Exchange Clearing House (TASECH) was established in 1962 and is governed by its articles of association and bylaws and by the rules and regulations of the TASE.
The Clearing House is registered as a limited company, separate from the TASE, although it operates as an integral part of the Exchange. In September 2006, the TASE completed the transformation of the Clearing House into a wholly owned subsidiary by purchasing the shares held by TASE members.
Clearing is a highly efficient operation. It consists of a computerized bookkeeping entry that permits clearing to take place on the same day on which a transaction is executed. No stock certificates are physically transferred between buyers and sellers.
The real owner of a security is not registered on a company's books. Rather, securities are registered by one of four nominee companies owned by either Bank Hapoalim BM, Bank Leumi le'Israel Ltd., Israel Discount Bank Ltd. or Mizrahi Tefahot Bank Ltd. These nominee companies deposit share certificates with their parent banks and indicate on their books that the TASE Clearing House is the registered owner.
On the books of the Clearing House, the members holding the shares are registered as owners. It is only on the books of the Clearing House members that actual shareholder names appear. All transactions must be cleared by a Clearing House member into a custody account for its customers, with the actual securities held in the TASE Clearing House. TASE members who are not members of the Clearing House must use a Clearing House member for clearing transactions.
There is no direct contact between company and shareholder. Therefore, it is incumbent upon investors who desire company information and proxy materials to require their broker to supply all such information on a timely basis.
According to current regulations, issuers must supply the TASE with all corporate action information. When a company sends reports to the TASE secure site, it takes about 2 to 20 minutes to get published in MAYA, the TASE Web site. It is simultaneously published on MAGNA, the ISA Web site. This slight delay gives the TASE time to halt trading in the event that sensitive information is being disclosed (e.g., financial report, full tender offer, dividend yield of greater than 10%).
This information is entered into TASE's computer database manually and double checked. This becomes available to TASE, TASECH and all participants instantaneously or, at the latest, the day after. Members and traders are also alerted via a pop-up window in cases of fundamental information.
TASECH advises participants on the day prior to record date about mandatory and voluntary corporate actions entitlements where the participant has a position. In addition, TASECH publishes a report on the 16th day of each calendar month detailing all relevant corporate action events to all members.
Custodians can manually capture information from MAYA using Smart Agent, which can then be filtered according to events and disseminated to their clients.
Other functions of the Clearing House include crediting members on behalf of their customers with dividends, interest, bond redemptions, share distributions, etc. The Clearing House collects amounts due from listed companies and transfers the sum to its memebers.
The Clearing House provides clearing, settlement and custody services for stock and government bond transactions made on the TASE, the MTS system, or off the exchange floor.
Cash amounts are netted and settled during batch processing in the RTGS payment system operated by the Bank of Israel. The RTGS system is used to process all cash settlements. For banks, these credit limits are set by the Israeli banking regulator. Netted cash amounts are settled through member accounts at the Bank of Israel. TASECH members, that are not banks, obtain cash clearance through certain banking members offering this service. TASECH is able to directly debit and credit the cash amounts due to and expected from each participant using these accounts. TASECH sends participants a cash clearing statement, before they are sent to the Bank of Israel to be settled. This allows participants to notify TASECH on the morning of T+1 of any imprecision they might have in the calculation of these amounts. TASECH uses the SWIFT platform to connect to the RTGS system.
Government Bonds traded on TASE and MTS-Israel and T-Bills are settled on T+1, and securities and cash DVP (delivery versus payment).
Securities and corporate bonds are settled on T (at the end of 2010, corporate bonds will move to T+1 and in 2011, securities will move to T+1). Any discrepancy between the original transaction value and the buy-in price is covered by the safety margin checked on a daily basis (Mark to Market).
All trades executed on TASE are conditional until the cash leg clears on T+1.
In September, 2001, the TASE Clearing House was admitted as a participant of the US Depository Trust Corporation. The DTC account improves cross-border processing of trades in dual-listed shares and repositions securities that are dual-listed on a free-of-payment basis for settlement of TASE trades in the TASE Clearing House system. The fully automated book-entry method replaced the previous method of physical delivery of shares from the US to Israel, thus reducing transaction costs and substantially shortening the settlement cycle.
The Clearing House established a $230 million risk fund in order to fulfill its obligation as a central counterparty (CCP). Clearing House members participate in the fund according to their relative share of trading activity.

 
 For more information see:  
 
Legislation
The TASE is a private company limited by guarantee of its members. The TASE operates under a license granted by the Minister of Finance. The Israel Securities Authority supervises the TASE's activity. The law requires the TASE to set up rules, as a condition to receive its license. The rules and any amendment thereto must be approved by the Minister of Finance in consultation with the Israel Securities Authority and by the Knesset (Israeli Parliament) Finance Committee.
 
 
Disclosure
Material events must be reported to the Securities Authority and the TASE no later than one day after their occurrence. The TASE will immediately publish the reports on the TASE Web site: www.maya.tase.co.il.
Publicly traded companies on the TASE are required to publish annual reports and file them with the TASE and the Securities Authority. These reports must contain audited financial statements. A report from the directors is due within three months of the close of the company's fiscal year. As Israeli companies are required to be on a calendar year basis, audited reports must be filed by March 31.
Quarterly reports must be filed within two months of the close of each quarter and must contain financial statements that have been reviewed, although they are not required to be audited by an independent accountant.
Regulations also call for companies to disclose transactions with interested parties. This is aimed at mitigating conflicts of interest that could develop because many firms are closely held. Firms are also required to publish dividend payment data and any changes in key executive positions.
Investors who acquire five percent or more of a firm's stock must disclose this to the company. The Securities Authority and the TASE must be informed of any subsequent transactions by an investor who holds five percent or more of a company's shares. Investors intending to purchase 10 percent or more of a bank must receive authorization in advance from the Bank of Israel.
  
Accounting practices
In July, 2006, the Israel Accounting Standards Board published Accounting Standard No. 29 - "Adoption of International Financing Reporting Standards (IFRS)." All entities subject to the Securities Law and which are required to report in accordance with its regulations (except for entities subject to the "Dual Listing" agreement and whose financial statement are not prepared in accordance with Israeli GAAP) are required to prepare their financial statements in accordance with IFRS. These international standards may vary significantly from Israeli standards.
 
Dual listings/Arbitrage
Many Israeli companies that trade on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange also trade on overseas exchanges either directly or through American Depository Receipts (ADRs), American Depository Shares (ADSs), Global Depository Receipts (GDRs) or Global Depository Shares (GDSs).
In October, 2000, the dual-listing law took effect. This legislation enables Israeli companies listed on US markets and the LSE Main Market to dual-list on the TASE with no additional regulatory requirements and at no cost. The process significantly shortened the ADR conversion period, and reduced the cost of executing each arbitrage transaction. Arbitrage possibilities exist on dual listings.
This regulatory regime made it simple for companies to dual-list and resulted in increased numbers of dual listings. Israeli investors are able to trade US-listed Israeli shares in Tel Aviv at the TASE's low costs and convenient trading hours. In addition, dual-listed companies get an additional trading arena for their shares and a new investor base.
 
 
Dual Listed Companies
 
 
Security
Overseas
Exchange

Alon Holdings Blue Square - Israel Ltd. NYSE

Alvarion Ltd. NASDAQ

Atia Group Ltd LSE

AudioCodes Ltd. NASDAQ

Bank Hapoalim BM LSE

BluePhoenix Solutions Ltd. NASDAQ

Camtek Ltd. NASDAQ

Cellcom Israel Ltd. NYSE

Ceragon Networks Ltd. NASDAQ

Compugen Ltd. NASDAQ

Commtouch Ltd. NASDAQ

Delta Galil Industries Ltd. NASDAQ  

Elbit Imaging Ltd. NASDAQ

Elbit Systems Ltd. NASDAQ

EZChip Semiconductor Ltd. NASDAQ

Formula Systems (1985) Ltd. NASDAQ

Frutarom Industries Ltd. LSE

Fundtech Ltd. NASDAQ

Gilat Satellite Networks Ltd. NASDAQ

Given Imaging Ltd. NASDAQ

Hadera Paper Ltd. AMEX

Internet Gold - Golen Lines Ltd.  NASDAQ

Ituran Location and Control Ltd. NASDAQ

Jacada Ltd. NASDAQ

Kardan NV Amsterdam

Magal Security Systems Ltd. NASDAQ

Magic Software Enterprises Ltd. NASDAQ

Mellanox Technologies Ltd. NASDAQ

Metalink Ltd. NASDAQ

Ness Technologies, Inc. NASDAQ

NICE Systems Ltd.
NASDAQ

Nova Measuring Instruments Ltd. NASDAQ

Orckit Communications Ltd. NASDAQ

Partner Communications Co. Ltd. LSE, NASDAQ  

Perrigo Company NASDAQ

Pilat Media Global plc Ltd. AIM

Pointer Telocation Ltd. NASDAQ

Prolor Biotech Inc. NYSE Amex

RADvision Ltd. NASDAQ

Retalix Ltd. NASDAQ

Sapiens International Corp. N.V. NASDAQ

Scailex Corporation Ltd. OTC

Shamir Optical Industry Ltd. NASDAQ

Silicom Connectivity Solutions Ltd NASDAQ

TAT Technologies Ltd. NASDAQ

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries ltd.
NASDAQ, Frankfurt

Top Image Systems Ltd. NASDAQ

Tower Semiconductor Ltd.
NYSE

Unitronics Ltd. Brussels

VeriFone NYSE

XFone Inc. AMEX

 
 
Contacting the TASE
Address: 54 Ahad Ha’am St., POB 29060, Tel Aviv 61290 Israel
Tel: 972-3-567-7406
Fax: 972-3-510-5379
Internet: www.tase.co.il
Email: info@tase.co.il
 



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