US property firms jump into Tel Aviv debt issues boom

Tel Aviv

US real estate developers are joining the largest wave of local debt issuance on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (Tase) bond trading platform since 2007, capitalising on yield-starved investors to obtain financing.

Companies have sold US$14.6 billion of bonds this year through Nov 20, up from US$8.7 billion in the same period of 2013, according to bourse data. New York real estate firms, including Extell Development Co and Zarasai Group, have joined the boom, issuing a total of US$436 million. It's now about 0.12 percentage point cheaper for borrowers to sell bonds in shekels and convert to dollars than it is to issue in greenbacks directly, data compiled by Bloomberg show. A year ago, shekels were about 0.69 percentage point costlier to borrow.