China is back on the growth track. In Q2 its GDP rose 7.4% according to the latest statistics. Moreover, the Beijing government is planning new stimulus measures which should goose up the economy.
Imagine this scenario. Warren Buffett decides to exit Berkshire Hathaway and sell the insurance company whose premium income provided the money for his empire of stock holdings. He decides that the real opportunity is in a wholly different industry and he wants to cash out of insurance to make the investment.
Moreover the Oracle of Omaha finds a suitable buyer among the very young close relatives of Donald Trump. However unlikely it may seem, that is roughly what is happening at the Israeli insurance equivalent of Berkshire now. More details for paid subscribers below along with less exciting news from Israel, Britain, Belgium, Mexico, Singapore, and Ireland. There will be no blog tomorrow as I am flying back to England with Norwegian Air Shuttle, a new and civilized cheapo airline competing with Ryannairand Easyjet. Getting to the USA will not be easy but we don’t plan to cross the Atlantico until August. Thanks to Portuguese reader LAFG who warned me about new security measures covering electronic devices, particularly cellphones. Travel without them seems to be the message.
*When we first bought into Delek Group it was a financial conglomerate propelled by the Phoenix Insurance Co. of Israel (and Republic Insurance of the USA, a sub). Its chairman, Libyan-born Yitzchak Tshuva was called the Israeli Buffett and was using the premiums of life insurance policies sold by Phoenix to invest in a whole range of ventures including biotech, gas stations, and roadside restaurants in Israel and Europe. He also bought up a oil refinery and a chain of gas stations and highway shops in the US. And Tshuva was a pioneer in developing Israel’s fledgling offshore gas search in Mediterranean waters.
On Sunday Delek announced a total switch in strategy, getting out of finance and into energy. It is putting its Israeli insurance arm up for sale following an earlier deal to sell Republic. Rather than looking for an Australian or Chinese partner to develop the monster offshore gasfield discovery, the appropriately named Leviathan field, Delek is going it alone.
Now it signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding with an outfit from NYC called Kushner Funding LLC. This is the real estate company run by Jared Kushner, 33, who is the husband of The Donald’s daughter, Ivanka Trump, and the father of two of Donald’s grandchildren. Like Trump, Kushner is a scion of a real estate clan based, not in Queens (where Donald’s daddy operated) but in New Jersey.
Jared Kushner attended a yeshiva high school but then switched to Harvard from which he graduated a mere decade ago. He then began investing on behalf of his family which suffered a scandal when his father, Charles, tried to break up his aunt’s marriage using a sex tape of her husband with a prostitute he had paid. More news of the screws. The Kushners and Trumps are of course fodder for the gossip columns of NYC but they have their own way to control the press. Jared also owns the New York Observer, a newspaper, and its British offshoot, heavy on gossip and lifestyle and of course boosts NYC real estate. It is no longer printed on pink paper.
The Kushner LLC has a banking and insurance license but its main business is property including 666 Fifth Avenue, a trophy commercial site. He is married to Ivanka Trump who works for her father’s company. She converted to Judaism to marry Jared and reportedly keeps a kosher home.
As is often the case in real estate deals with companies short of ready cash, it looks like Yitzhak Tshuva will have to finance the takeover of 47% of Phoenix that he wants to sell at a price still being negotiated but estimated by Globes Israel (a website) at NIS 3.6 bn. Reuters on the other hand says the price is only NIS 1.7 bn. The shekel is at $3.41 so the price is somewhere between $500 mn and $1.1 bn depending on what proportion of Phoenix Jared Kushner winds up with. Right now he has been granted exclusivity for the deal but it is not clear what the deadline is. It is unclear if Trump is involved but he is also usually short of the ready.
 *Global Logistics Properties, of Singapore, singed a key lease for sites in west central China with a 3rd party logistics company, Best Logistics, which is building out its network of sites. The lease is for 27,000 sq meters, and Best’s Johnny Chou said that thanks to GBTZF it can scale up its distribution system as new customers come on. It mainly offers delivery to e-commerce, and sellers offast selling clothing, electronics, appliances, and auto parts.
 *Teva had a busy weekend. It filed with the US FDA a citizen’s petition to make sure that the gene expression of competing generic versions of its Copoxone drug to treat multiple sclerosis in fact are identical. This along with a Supreme Court hearing in the autumn should stop premature launches of copycat drugs in the short term.
TEVA also won CHMP (European Union Committee on Human Medical Products) approval for its birth control pill Seasonique, which only lets users have 4 menstrual periods per calendar year.
 *CHMP also gave approval to GlaxoSmithKline for its chronic obstructive pulmonary disease inhaler Anoro Ellipta (muscarine antagonist with beta 2 agonist). It also ok’d Mekinist for inoperable melanoma skin cancer, also from GSK. And CHMP approved a jointly developed drug with Genmab for lymphocytic leukemia, Azerra. The EU approvals were all published July 4.
 *Galapagos raised euros 1.9 mn with an exercise of warrants by its controlling shareholders. GLPYY is a drug discovery outfit from Belgium where our former Milan-based biotech maven now works.
 *Eduardo Garcia reported in www.sentidocomun.co.mx that Mexichem had replaced an earlier more costly and shorter term financial package with a new dollar revolving credit for up to $1.5 bn for a term of 3 to 5 years. MXCHF is the multinational maker of fluorine chemicals which boosted its global presence with borrowed money right before the financial crisis. It is now refinancing.
 *World Cup excitement has boosted the Irish bookie shares we own, Paddy Power plc.Ireland, Australia, Italy, and England where it has its biggest business all failed to make the cut but that doesn’t stop them from betting.
