"Despite the global financial crisis, the Lehman Brothers investment bank continues to see Israel as a country in which it is possible to make a great deal of money," Harvey Krueger, vice chairman of the bank and one of the US investors most deeply involved in the Israeli economy, said yesterday in New York.
Krueger was speaking at a lunch in honor of Minister of Industry and Trade Natan Sharansky. Krueger said in his speech that, as far as Lehman Brothers was concerned, Israel continued to be a strategic investment target. He estimated that the global economic crisis would not severely damage Israel, because of the special contribution high tech companies make to the Israeli economy.
"Israel’s high tech companies and R&D programs are unique in the world," said Krueger. "They are turning Israel into a place that attracts investors, because of its high latent potential for profit on investments."
Israeli sources said that Krueger’s speech was highly significant in the light of the fact that, in the tender for the issue of the Israel Electric Corporation, Salomon Smith Barney won the role of lead underwriter, and Lehman Brothers had to be content with the role of sub-underwriter. "Despite this, there are no hard feelings," one of the sources said.
According to sources that took part in the gathering, Safra bank representatives who spoke with Sharansky said the Safra brothers were very happy with their investments in Israel, and were examining further investments there, including in the financial area.
Published by Israel's Business Arena December 9, 1998