Bronfman and Gillerman reexamine cleantech-focused Israel Opportunity Fund

The global financial crisis is affecting the Israel Opportunity Fund, the cleantech-focused VC fund founded last year by Canadian-American businessman Matthew Bronfman and former Israel Ambassador to the UN Dan Gillerman. The fund was established last fall to invest in Israel-related renewable energy and water technology companies.

The plan was to raise $100 million, with Bronfman Fisher Investment Ltd. committed to invest about 20% of the sum raised. However, today at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Gillerman told Globes, "We are reexamining both the size of the investment and the size of the fund."

Gillerman added. "The timing of our fund was undoubtedly unique. We founded it when it was already clear that the economic world was not what it was. What wasn't clear was the scale of its severity. The first round of fund raising from investors we carried out in London during one of the stormiest weeks of the global economy the week that Lehman Bros. collapsed."

Globes: Matthew Bronfman himself is not in the best of financial situations today?

Gillerman: "I rely on the power, stability, and strength of him and his family.

The money designated for the fund is from him or his family?

"Even I don't know."

How much money do you already have at your disposal to invest?

"I don't want to go into details."

You recently said that there has been a delay but will you complete fund raising by the end of 2009?

"As I have already said, we are reexamining the size of the investment and the size of the fund."

Have you implemented any investments yet?

"No. We have very many proposals both from large bodies and banks who have suggested companies that we should buy, sometimes as part of their activities as creditors."

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Better Place raises €103 million, names new Danish CEO

Better Place, in conjunction with its Danish utility partner, DONG Energy, announced today it has raised approximately €103 million Euro (770 million Danish Kroner) in equity and convertible debt for the initial deployment of their electric car charging network in Denmark.

Under the terms of the agreement, DONG Energy will assist in the Better Place Denmark network rollout as well as be the preferred supplier of renewable energy to power the network.

In March 2008, Better Place named Better Place Denmark as its second operator following Israel, which recently unveiled its first installed electric charge spots. Starting in 2011 The Renault-Nissan Alliance will begin to commercialize a complete range of electric vehicles adapted to Danish customer requirements

Better Place also named Jens Moberg as Head of Better Place Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) Business Development and Chief Executive Officer of Better Place Denmark. As CEO, Mr. Moberg will focus on establishing Denmark as Better Place's first operation in Europe and help expand Better Place to other European countries. He joins Better Place Denmark from Microsoft Corp., where he was responsible for developing and growing Microsoft’s multi-billion dollar enterprise business in Russia, India and China.

Today's announcement follows a series of deals signed by Better Place to construct charging and battery-swapping networks in Australia, California, Canada, Hawaii and Israel.

“With the U.N. Summit on Climate Change around the corner, Denmark has the opportunity to demonstrate to the world what the future of transportation will look like,” said Shai Agassi, Founder and CEO, Better Place. “In Jens Moberg, we’ve selected a world-class business executive to help us implement our model in Denmark, which will serve as a showcase for Europe and the rest of the world as they come to Copenhagen for COP15 in December.”

“Our goal in investing in Better Place Denmark is to help reduce CO2 emissions and increase the consumption of sustainable energy by capturing and leveraging wind power more efficiently,” said Anders Eldrup, CEO and President, DONG Energy. “Under Jens Moberg’s leadership, we look forward to making the Better Place vision a reality in Denmark for the entire world to see.”

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Ormat geothermal project in Guatemala receives United Nations' Clean Development Mechanism registration

Ormat Technologies, Inc., the U.S. subsidiary of Yavne, Israel-based Ormat, announced today that the Executive Board of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change ("UNFCCC") officially registered Ormat's Amatitlan Geothermal Project in Guatemala as a Clean Development Mechanism ("CDM") on December 12, 2008.

The Mechanism was designed to provide business from developed countries with an economic incentive to help reduce carbon emissions and increase sustainable development in countries that do not have emission reduction targets. The Project is expected to offset emissions of approximately 83,000 tones of CO₂ per year.

With Amatitlan registered under the CDM, the project will be eligible to receive certified emission reduction ("CER") credits, each equivalent to one tone of carbon dioxide, which can be traded or sold. The Project has a long term contract to sell all Amatitlan's CERs to a buyer domiciled in Europe.

Ormat's generating portfolio includes 13 projects totaling 414 MW in the United States, Central America, Kenya and New Zealand. The Amatitlan project is Ormat's first registered CDM project and one of the few CDM registered geothermal projects worldwide and the only project in Guatemala that is CDM registered. Amatitlan was developed on a build-own-operate basis and comprises a 20 MW geothermal power plant based on Ormat Energy Converters. The Project has a long-term power purchase agreement with the Instituto Nacional de Electrificatio.

Mr. Lucien Y. Bronicki, Chairman of Ormat, said: "This registration is a major encouragement for Ormat to continue developing additional geothermal CDM eligible projects worldwide. Even looking beyond the benefit it provides for Ormat, it is an arrangement with far-reaching advantages that will allow for developing host countries to gain access to cost effective, clean and reliable base-load power, that will help reduce their dependency on imported fuels and on rainfall required to sustain their Hydro reservoirs."

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