The Rate Of Public Holdings In The Tel Aviv-25 Index Will Increase To 25%

The TASE Board of Directors authorized a further increase from 22.5% to 25% – in the rate of public holdings "free float" required for admittance to the stock exchange’s indices. This measure is one of many which the TASE has been adopted recently to develop and improve its indices. The decision will take effect on December 15, 2007, the date of the semi-annual updates, to enable the companies to make the necessary arrangements.

At the same time, the minimal public holdings will also be raised. In the TA-25 index, the increase will be from NIS 500 million to NIS 600 million. The rate and value of the public holdings in other indices will also rise as shown in the table below.

Mr. Dror Shalit, Senior Vice President and Director of the Department of Trade and Clearing stated that raising the public holdings required by companies for admittance to the stock exchange indices, increases the potential liquidity of the shares and enhances trade.

“Even before the indices were updated in January 2007, we realized that many companies had been working toward increasing the public holdings", he said. Mr. Shalit added that this improvement will also bring about the growth of share liquidity and make shares more attractive to both foreign and local investors.

It was printed out that this step is part of an ongoing plan to improve the stock exchange indices, which began to be implemented on January 1, 2007.