"Why Israel?" and answered it in
the words: "Political stability."
Surely, there were also other
substantive reasons like Mr.
Robertson's belief that opportu-
nities in Israel now match those
which existed in California dur-
ing the 1970s. The country's im-
mense intellectual capital and
burgeoning business culture
make Israel an offshore Silicon
Valley.
Out of every 10,000 workers,
135 are in R&D, he said, corn-
pared with 70 in the United
States and only 28 in Britain.
And local companies could exploit
substantial government funding
for commercial and defense-ori-
ented research.
Examples of these opportuni-
ties were very much on show at
the conference, and they certainly
bore out his thesis. Forty-two
publicly traded Israeli companies
and 27 private ones made pre-
sentations.
Such an array of companies
and technologies would make an
investment banker's mouth wa-
ter. If Robertson, Stephens and
Evergreen play their cards right,
they should provide a rich foun-
tain of underwriting commissions
in the not-too-distant future.
There were no seats to be had at
either of Vocaltec's presentations;
it was standing-room only. The
company, which is reportedly be-
ing besieged by investment
bankers begging to take it pub-
lic, is the developer of the Inter-
net phone. This enables PC users
to conduct conversations over the
Internet, anywhere in the world,
for the price of a local phone call.
The demonstration, though not
glitch-free, was impressive
nonetheless.
Robertson, Stephens special-
izes in limited areas — technolo-
gy, health care, retailing and
special situations. The firm em-
ploys 32 research analysts and
its research covers 317 compa-
nies. It employs 30 institutional
brokers who average 14 years' ex-
perience in the business. 0
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