Reuters: Israel's New Rules on Natural Resources Putting off Investors

New regulation of Israel's natural gas and mining industries aimed at increasing competition to bring down prices is scaring off investors, putting billions of dollars at risk.

The rules, introduced over five years for many sectors but hitting natural resource companies particularly hard, allow the break up powerful conglomerates that dominate Israel's economy, with the goal of reducing high living costs, a major voter complaint ahead of the March 17 national election.

But investor concern intensified in late December when the antitrust authority declared that stakeholders in two large natural gas fields -- Israel's Delek Group and Texas-based Noble Energy -- might be running a monopoly under the new rules and could be forced to sell assets.

"As long as there is no certainty regarding the regulatory environment it will be almost mission impossible for international quality investors to invest here because so many parameters can change," said Edouard Cukierman, chairman of Cukierman Investment House, who has raised $5 billion in investments in Israeli companies. MORE