The Start-Up Nation Index: New York–Based Company BlueStar Indexes Introduces The TA-BIGITech Index™

Press Release
24/03/2015
 
​TA-BIGITech™ includes 57 Stocks of Israeli High-Tech Companies Listed in Tel Aviv, New York and London, as well as Dual-Listed Companies, and will serve as the Underlying Benchmark for Index Funds, ETFs and ETNs
 
The Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE) continues to implement the recommendations of the R&D Committee for promotion of Israeli high-tech companies, and has signed a cooperation agreement with BlueStar Indexes, a New York-based investment research company engaged in the development of global indexes.
In the context of the cooperation, BlueStar and the TASE have launched the TASE-BlueStar Israel Global Technology Index™ - TA-BIGITech™ - an evolution of BlueStar’s BIGITech™ benchmark calculated since 2013 with history from December 2003.

TA-BIGITech™ includes 57 stocks of Israeli or Israel-related high-tech companies, trading in Tel Aviv, New York and London, as well as dual-listed companies. Leading Israeli companies in the index include:  Amdocs, Check Point, Mobileye, Stratasys and Mellanox. The aggregate market cap of the companies included in the Index is approximately US$75 billion, compared to TA-BlueTech’s US$23 billion.

This is the first index to include Israeli high-tech companies trading on markets worldwide, and it can serve as the underlying benchmark for index funds, Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs) and Exchange-Traded Notes (ETNs) issued in Israel and abroad.

Israel has a worldwide reputation of innovation and contribution to the global bio-med and technology industry, and is globally known as the Start-Up Nation, generating global investors' interest in investing in Israeli high-tech companies trading on various exchanges. Investment via index funds, ETFs, and ETNs tracking the TA-BIGITech Index™ will facilitate the exposure of Israeli and international investors in Israeli high-tech companies giving them the benefit of these companies' growth potential. Furthermore, the development of ETFs and ETNs may contribute to the marketability of stocks included in the Index.
 
In recent years, global economic growth around the world has been mainly driven by innovative technology companies. The weight of technology companies in the major stock indexes in the U.S. and worldwide has significantly increased over the past decades, yet Israeli tech stocks are a key missing component of global technology equity exposure. There is minimal overlap between TA-BIGITech™ and technology indexes and ETFs currently-listed in the US and Europe. 

Steven Schoenfeld, Founder and Chief Investor Officer of BlueStar said: "As global investors' interested in Israeli high-tech companies, we developed our BIGITech™ benchmark to provide broad, deep and complete exposure to public Israeli technology companies traded worldwide.  We are thrilled to join forces with the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange to create TA-BIGITech™.  The TASE’s involvement has already enhanced our methodology, and we will benefit from the exchange’s participation on the BlueStar Index Advisory Committee, which helps govern TA-BIGITech™.  We are pleased that the first index fund to track BIGITech™ has already been launched in Israel, and we estimate that ETNs and ETFs tracking the index will soon be issued, serving both Israeli and international investors".
 
Yossi Beinart, CEO of the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange said that "Israel is a leader in the high-tech industry, and we are acting to promote Israeli high-tech and to encourage international investors to invest in Israeli companies, in a manner coinciding with TASE's strategic plans and with the recommendations of the R&D Committee. The new index is particularly important against the background of increasing passive investments around the world, and it provides international investors convenient access to Israeli high-tech companies trading on various markets. We estimate that the Index and ETNs that will track the Index, will assist the growth of Israeli high-tech companies, as well as the exposure of TASE and the companies traded on TASE to investors overseas, thereby contributing to the entire market".
About BlueStar 

​BlueStar Indexes is a subsidiary of BlueStar Global Investors LLC, a research-focused financial firm that specializes in the Israeli capital markets. BlueStar’s mission is to develop investment strategies that provide global institutional and retail investors efficient access to the full range of Israeli asset classes. BlueStar's flagship products are the BlueStar Israel Global Index® (BIGI®), a benchmark designed for broad, deep and complete coverage of Israeli companies, providing balanced sector exposure to Israel’s dynamic economy and the TASE-BlueStar Israel Global Technology Index™ (TA-BIGITech™). The NYSE-listed ISRA Israel ETF tracks BIGI®, and KSM Financial has recently launched the licensed TA-BIGITech™

For the index page on the TASE website, click here.

For more information and data, visit: http://www.bluestarindexes.com.

About TASE 
​Established in September 1953, the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE) is an efficient one-stop shop for the securities industry, hosting an increasingly sophisticated range of products available to investors, including shares, corporate bonds, treasury bills and bonds, index-tracking products and derivatives. TASE is a fully-automated exchange with a central order book trading system, providing clearing, settlement and depository services