Following its successful investments in Egypt's East Mediterranean Gas Company (EMG), which exports natural gas to Israel, and in a Colombia ethanol project, Ampal-American Israel Corporation (Nasdaq: AMPL; TASE:AMPL) has made the strategic decision to expand its energy investments, and will soon review additional projects overseas, Ampal chairman Yosef Maiman announced at an analysts and investment managers conference at the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE) today.
Maiman said, "When we invested in Ampal a decade ago, the company had 70 holdings in various high-tech industries. Each holding was between 1% and 2% at the most. We turned Ampal into a company based on basic industries, with a focus on energy, chemicals, and petrochemicals, as well as communications."
Maiman said that Ampal's strategy in the past decade boosted the value of its assets from $300 million to $1.4 billion. "Ampal will expand its investments in additional energy ventures overseas," he reiterated.
Ampal's share price rose 0.8% at the opening on Nasdaq today to $2.60, giving a market cap of $146 million, after rising 1.6% on the TASE to NIS 9.47.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on January 24, 2011
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