Israel Corporation () (also Israel Corp) is

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

's largest

holding company A holding company is a company whose primary business is holding a controlling interest in the Security (finance), securities of other companies. A holding company usually does not produce goods or services itself. Its purpose is to own Share ...

. It was founded in 1968 by the Government of the State of Israel. 50% of its manufacturing activities and 70% of its consolidated revenues derive from global operations. Its core holdings are fertilizers and specialty chemicals, energy, shipping and transportation. Israel Corp is a constituent of the

TA-35 Index TA-35 Index is an Israeli stock market index computed by the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange tracking the performance of 35 large companies listed on stock exchanges in Israel. It is one of the most commonly followed equity indices in Israel, considered ...

of leading shares of the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange. Two of its major holdings, Israel Chemicals and Oil Refineries Ltd are also constituents of the TA-35 Index.

History

The Israel Corp was founded by the government of Israel in 1968, together with Shaul Eisenberg, who was one of the first strategic foreign investors in Israeli history, under the initiative of then Minister of Finance, Pinchas Sapir of the

Israeli Labor Party The Israeli Labor Party (), commonly known in Israel as HaAvoda (), was a Social democracy, social democratic political party in Israel. The party was established in 1968 by a merger of Mapai, Ahdut HaAvoda and Rafi (political party), Rafi. Unt ...

, who changed the Encouragement of Capital Investments Law to attract foreign investment. The change ensured that the company's owners were exempt from taxes for 30 years and received other benefits. In 1975, the director general of Israel Corp, Michael Tzur, was sentenced to 15 years in prison after he was convicted on 18 counts of embezzlement, theft, fraud and bribery. He was released from prison in 1981. Shares of the company were offered to the public in 1969, 1970, 1974 and 1982, and the company was listed on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange in 1982. After Eisenberg's death in 1998, the family sold control of the company to the Ofer family. In 2007, 55% of the equity of the company was held by the Ofer Brothers Group, 18% by Bank Leumi and the remainder by the public.

Major holdings

Israel Corp's major holdings are Israel Chemicals, Oil Refineries Ltd,

Tower Semiconductor Tower Semiconductor Ltd. is an Israeli company that manufactures integrated circuits using specialty process technologies, including SiGe, BiCMOS, Silicon Photonics, SOI, mixed-signal and RFCMOS, CMOS image sensors, non-imaging sensors, power m ...

, Kenon Holdings and

Zim Integrated Shipping Services Zim Integrated Shipping Services Ltd., commonly known as ZIM (, ''tsim''; a biblical word meaning "a fleet of ships", Numbers 24:24), is a Public company, publicly held Israeli international List of largest container shipping companies, c ...

Criticism

The Israel Corporation was criticized in a

documentary film A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". The American author and ...

examining the influence of big business on Israeli politics. The movie '' The Shakshuka System'' chronicles the history of the company, and how it had allegedly benefited from a "revolving-door" practice between the public and the private sector, from its extensive network of connections in Israel's political system and economic circles, and from a high degree of influence on local media to squelch potential criticism. Among the major allegations presented by the film was the Bazan sale incident, in which the company's stake in the country's largest oil refinery was bought out by Israel's treasury, for what many considered to be an overvalued sum, especially since Israel Corp. was bound by an agreement to return its holding of Bazan to the state without compensation. The company had allegedly blocked the film from being broadcast on any of Israel's commercial TV channels, and it was finally broadcast on Channel One.

References

External links

Israel Corporation

Ofer Brothers Group
{{Authority control Holding companies established in 1968 Companies listed on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange Companies in the TA-35 Index Conglomerate companies of Israel Companies based in Tel Aviv Ofer family Holding companies of Israel Israeli companies established in 1968

History

Major holdings

Criticism

See also

References

External links