"Institutional investors acted responsibly during crisis. In my opinion we've learned our lessons," Migdal Insurance and Financial Holdings Ltd. (TASE: MGDL) chief investment offiver Anat Levin said at the "Globes" Capital Markets Conference, held in Tel Aviv today in conjunction with BDO Ziv Haft. In March, Levin was appointed deputy CEO of Bank Hapoalim (TASE: POLI) and will manage its Global Treasury division.
Levin added, "In general, the most disturbing thing about public offerings is that the risk is not properly priced. That's the heart of the problem. We now appear to be heading back to a distorted pricing of risk. There is no real difference between debt that is liable to become riskier and other debt. This is the problem to which attention should be turned."
Levin said, "If public offerings remain in this condition, we'll again see large companies getting into trouble just like Africa-Israel Investments Ltd. (TASE:AFIL) did."
Clal Finance Underwriting chairman and oil and gas exploration company Modiin Energy LP (TASE:MDIN.L) shareholder Tzahi Sultan said, "Today, there is definitely a problem to hold offerings, like we did in 2007 before the crisis. If we look at the contemporary offerings, the lower-rated deals come with collateral, and most underwriters are acting responsibly. They're not rushing to every offering offered. I'm comfortable with all the offerings we're leading."
When asked whether the oil and gas exploration business has been blown out of proportion, Sultan said, "The sector has definitely not lost proportion. There are signs to prove it: every change in our estimate about a particular drilling area makes waves, and there is still a long road ahead. When I invested in Modiin, it had nothing, but it now owns offshore licenses and has a market cap of NIS 300 million. A bubble or not a bubble - I don’t know?"
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on May 5, 2010
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2010