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Message: <br /><br /> If you are having trouble reading this email, you may view this article online at: http://www.jweekly.com/14350/full/14350/palo-alto-s-hambrecht-to-increase-israel-investments/ <br /><br /> <b>Palo Alto’s Hambrecht to increase Israel investments</b> <br /> Friday, October 27, 2000 | by <p>PALO ALTO (JPS)—WR Hambrecht & Co., the online investment bank, is opening a representative office in Israel and raising a ne </p> <br /><br /><p>William R. Hambrecht founded his own investment bank in 1998, incorporating many Internet-related technological innovations, after Hambrecht & Quist was purchased by Chase and became Chase H&Q. Chase H&Q has remained an investor in the Polaris-Eucalyptus venture capital funds in Israel.<br /><br /> Mann was interviewed at Hambrecht headquarters in San Francisco, along with Duane Kirkpatrick, the newly appointed managing director for international operations. As a former executive with Robertson Stephens involved in negotiating that bank's current affiliation with Evergreen Venture Capital, Kirkpatrick has his own close relationship with Israel.<br /><br /> "We have identified our candidate to be the firm's Israel representative, and we expect to make the announcement of his appointment imminently," Mann said.<br /><br /> "This is the next logical step in our long involvement with the Israeli financial and high-tech community, such as our [non-exclusive] partnership with Oscar Gruss of Tel Aviv [and New York], our underwriting of the Nogatech IPO, our subsequent role in the acquisition of Nogatech by Zoran, and our dealings with a number of Israeli law firms, including Eitan Pearl Latzer and Cohen-Zedek and Yigal Arnon, among others."<br /><br /> According to Mann, Hambrecht already has appointed a director for the WR Hambrecht Venture Fund: Mike Szeto, formerly of J.P. Morgan.<br /><br /> "We have already invested $100 million in 58 portfolio companies, and we are currently considering two Israeli companies. Until now, we have been investing in Series B and C rounds of financing, but we anticipate that we will now be moving into earlier stage investment as well," Mann said.<br /><br /> Mann foresees two main sectors of increased activity for Hambrecht in Israel.<br /><br /> "One is in the arena of mergers and acquisitions," he said. "There are some great opportunities in Israel, because many of the bigger investment banks are interested only in billion-dollar deals, or in taking companies public."<br /><br /> The other area is in venture capital investment, but with the on-line twist for which Hambrecht has become known.<br /><br /> "Typically, we will invest in companies using the following formula: Bill Hambrecht will invest 25 percent personally, the firm will invest another 25 percent and then we will offer 50 percent to accredited investors over the Internet," Mann said.</p> <p> </p>

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