November Special Edition 2021

7 add s Joey Shabot, M anaging Shareholder in the Tel Aviv office of Greenberg Traurig. “In terms of closed deals, we have worked with one of the UAE’s most significant institutional investors to close two deals in Israel in the last year. In both cases, it involved relatively small “test” investments in established Israeli fund sponsors. Our sense is that this is a dipping the toes in the water to test the temperature, and that more significant direct investments are to follow,” Shabot adds. “One of the main challenges will be to see how regulators and lenders view investments from UAE entities in Israel. On the one hand, Israel is a highly concentrated market so in theory regulators should want to see new players coming in. On the other hand, will they be comfortable approving investments in all sectors? It will be interesting to see,” Phillips adds. “It’s relatively easy to do business in the region so that has been fairly easy for companies who want to set-up operations there,” points o ut Jeremy Lustman, partner and Head of Israel Desks at DLA. “At the same time, you need to be local…it’s an environment that rewards those who are present. So it’s not the market that one will come in and out and develop quick business. There is tremendous opportunity, but it requires spending more time in the country, deepening relationships, and developing the trust that will earn local business partners.” Even with a global pandemic and hampered tourism, around 230,000 Israelis have already visited the UAE –many for tourism,many on business,with visa-free travel announced by Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked. Furthermore, the UAE is not considered a market to just sell to, it is considered a gateway to the wider region. In fact, the newGC7 summit will be held on January 11, 2022, in Riyadh and it will comprise of 7 countries instead of the previous 6 GCC countries including Israel as a newmember, joining UAE, Bahrain, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Qatar. Requires spending more time in the country and deepening relationships The new GC7 Summit to include Israel