Icap Plc (IAP.ISE) buys Israeli Triana, provider of automated post trade processing services, for USD 247 million, of which USD 238 million in cash, and USD 9 million in shares. Triana‘s revenues expected to grow by 40% to USD 15 million for the year ending January 2008.

TheMarker: Israel‘s employment market at record highs - up 17.3% from Q107, and 39.3% from Q206.

Israeli Web 2.0 company, Kasamba, is acquired by LivePerson for US $40 million (of which US $9 million in cash).

E&Y (as cited in TheMarker): In 2006 the ratio investment/exit in Israel was 2.2, as compared to 1.5 in the US.

Israeli DSPG Group Inc. (Nasdaq: DSPG) to acquire rival Dutch NXP (formerly Philips Semiconductor) for US $270 million, of which US $200 in cash. Following the transaction NXP will hold 12% of DSPG. The transaction is reported to potentially grow by another US $75 million, subject to milestones. The acquisition is expected to double DSPG‘s sales, and enhance profitability.

Broadcom (Nasdaq: BRCM) acquires Israeli startup Octalica, for ~ USD 38 million in cash. Octalica develops semiconductors for the Multimedia over Coax Alliance (MoCA) standard. The deal is expected to close by June 30th. Massachusetts-based Octalica‘s products are used for distributing digital multimedia content to the home, and is used by cable, satellite, and telecommunications carriers. Octalica also maintains a design team in Tel Aviv, Israel, and has 27 employees.

Israeli BigBand Networks Inc., which sells network hardware and software that allows companies to offer video, voice and data services, raises US $139 million above expected range at Nasdaq IPO. The offering price gives the company an initial market capitalization of almost US $743 million.

Israel‘s GDP for 2006 - up 5.1%, and consistent with 5.2% growth in 2005.

TheMarker: Demand for executive positions in Israeli startups up 40% in 2006. Many Israeli companies are aiming for foreign branches to be manned by Israelis alongside local marketing and sales personnel.

Mellanox Technologies Ltd., supplier of semiconductors used to transfer data between servers and storage systems, raises US $102 million on Nasdaq IPO - underwriters were Credit Suisse, Thomas Weisel, JPMorgan and Jefferies & Co.

Tessera Technologies Inc. acquires Israeli Eyesquad, developer of micro-imaging products, for ~ US $25 million only one year after Eyesquad was established. Portalium identified Eyesquad as a top-quality opportunity, and put together the co-investment that seeded the company in Q2 2006 - German BayTech VC and Adara VC - both operting in Israel via Portalium Ventures.

Israeli startup PortAuthority Technologies to be acquired by Websense for approx. US $90 million in cash. PortAuthority Technologies was founded in 2000, and currently has 60 employees.

TheMarker: NDS (Nasdaq: NNDS) to acquire Israeli born Jungo, developer of SW platform for residential gateways, for an assessed US $107 million.

Wellington Partners, which operates in Israel in cooperation with Portalium Ventures, leads US $36 million round in wafer inspection company Negevtech

NeuStar NeuStar Inc. (NYSE: NSR; market cap of US $2.35 billion), acquires Israeli company Followap, developer of advanced platforms for instant messaging on cellular devices, for US $140 million.

Network Appliance Inc., (Nasdaq: NTAP) provider of storage products and services, to acquire Topio for US $160 million. Israeli born Topio, which still runs its R&D center in Israel, produces SW that helps customers replicate, recover and protect data over any distance, regardless of the underlying server or storage infrastructure.

TheMarker: AOL to acquire Israeli born Relegence for an estimated US $50-100 million.

Microsemi Corporation (Nasdaq: MSCC) buys Israel PowerDsine Ltd. (Nasdaq: PDSN), vendor of high-performance analog integrated circuits for communications systems, PCs and aviation and military products, for US $245 million in cash and shares. Price gives a premium of 18.5% on the company’s market cap.

Haaretz: LSI Logic (NYSE: LSI) is negotiating to buy the Israeli startup StoreAge for ~ US $55 million.

McAfee has acquired Onigma for US $20-25 million. Onigma‘s product will be incorporated in McAfee‘s enterprise security solution, and McAfee will recruit tens of additional Israeli developers for its new R&D center that will be built around Onigma in Israel.

Oct. 3, 2006: XEROX (NYSE: XRX) to acquire XMPie, leading provider of variable information software, which enables cross-media, personalized marketing programs, for US $54 million.

Capital raised by Israeli high-tech companies during this period reaches $404 million – up 12% from Q1 2006. Post bubble era effects slowly diminishing, with internet sector capturing 9% of capital raised during the last quarter.

Microsoft to Acquire PC Support Technology and Services Provider Gteko, for an assessed US $100-120 million.

TheMarker: Lucent Technologies (NYSE: LU) to acquire Mobilitec, a leading provider of content management software for wireless service providers, for US $75 million in cash.

IBM Corp. (NYSE:IBM) expands its research activity in Israel - announced (Aug. 20, 2006) it is setting up a third software laboratory, bringing one of the company’s largest centers outside the US to a total number of IBM R&D staff of 650 employees.

Aug. 8 2006 - Battery Ventures and Haifa‘s Technion Inst. of Technology announce Battery‘s investment in the institute‘s technology companies incubator

Milpitas-based SanDisk Corp. (Nasdaq: SNDK), vendor of removable flash storage devices, to acquire Israeli based competitor M-Systems Flash Disk Pioneers Ltd. (Nasdaq: FLSH) in a US $1.56 billion all-stock deal.

HP to buy Israeli-born Mercury Interactive (MERQ), for US $4.5 billion in cash - paying a premium of approx. 33%  for Mercury shares. Acquisition of Mercury - vendor of solutions for testing and optimizing software applications - is aimed to help boost sales of HP‘s OpenView systems management software, and ranks as one of the largest prices ever paid to acquire an Israeli-born company.

The Marker: Francisco Partners to acquire Ex Libris, Israeli vendor of digital library solutions, for US $62 million. Only US $4 million were invested in Ex Libris, which were enough for it to grow a leading position in its field, with 250 employees and customers such as Harvard and MIT.

Globes: Computer Associates (NYSE:CA) (CA) to acquire Israeli company XOsoft, developer of infrastructure software and application recovery solutions, for an undisclosed amount (estimated to be in the US $80-100 million range).

Q2 2006 - 109 Israeli born hi-tech companies raise US $404 million - 12% more than in Q1 2006. Israeli investors make 38% of these investments, reflecting recent rising interest of foreign investors in the local market. H1 2006 yields US $764 million in investment.

Portalium‘s partners have invested 36% of the total seed investment volume made during this period.

Johnson & Johnson buys collagen implants company ColBar for US $140 million - VC funds have invested US $30 million in ColBar

Marvell to pay US $600 million for Intel‘s communications and applications processor business, including Intel‘s Petah Tikva, Israel, operations

Flash Networks, Israeli vendor of solutions for optimizing and speeding up data traffic on wireless networks and improving user experience of premium services offered by communications providers, raises US$ 15 million in a funding round led by HarbourVest Partners and Argonaut Partners LLC of the US

Oracle to acquire Demantra, now Waltham, Mass.-based producer of supply chain planning applications which runs it development center in Israel, for US $41 million.

Amdocs (NYSE: DOX) completes the acquisition of Qpass, provider of digital commerce software and solutions, for approximately US $275 million in cash

Microsoft has acquired Israeli Whale Communications, provider of secure Virtual Personal Network (VPN) services using SSL encryption, for USD 75 million

Israel‘s AudioCodes (Nasdaq: AUDC.O), a maker of voice over IP calling equipment, to acquire U.S.-based Nuera Communications for up to US $90 million in cash. Will pay at least US $85 million - price could rise up to US $90 million if Nuera achieves certain revenue goals during the first year after the completion of the deal

BayTech Venture Capital and Adara Ventures, which operate in Israel in cooperation with Portalium Ventures, invest Euro 4 million in Micro-imaging Solutions Company Eyesquad

TEMC Corp. buys Kashya, privately held provider of data replication and data protection software, for approx. US $153 million in cash

BMC Software has bought Israel‘s Identify Software for its application problem resolution (APR) software for US $150M

The Marker: Actelis has signed today a US $60 million deal with Qwest Communications, to be implemented over the next 4 years. Actelis‘ solutions will serve approx. 500,000 businesses using Qwest services

Omrix Biopharma (OMRI) raises ~ US $34.4 million on NASDAQ IPO.

Verifone (market cap of US $2 billion) to acquire rival Lipman Electronics Engineering (Nasdaq: LPMA; TASE: LPMA) for US $793 million (price said to reflect a premium of 20-30% over Lipman’s current share price).

PMC-Sierra Inc. to acquire Passave Inc., a privately-held maker of chips, for US $300 million in stock, thus bolstering its product line used to power high-speed Internet gear. Passave was incepted in Israel in 2001 and employs 150 workers worldwide in Israel, California, Japan, Korea and China.

Globes: Mass-based EPIX Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: EPIX), a developer of innovative pharmaceuticals for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), will acquire Predix Pharmaceuticals Holdings Inc., in a transaction valued at approximately US $90 million.

Globes: Johnson & Johnson acquires collagen implants company ColBar for US $140 million. VCs have previously invested US $30 million in ColBar.

Foreign investments in Israel during 2005 reach record breaking US $10 billion - of which US $6 billion are direct investments (The Ministry of Industry and Trade).

Ha‘aretz: Google plans R&D center in Israel.