Australian attorney Paul Stephenson has recently joined Afik & Co., the Israeli representative of the international lawyer network EALG, with hundreds of lawyers in Israel, the United States, South America and Europe. Stephenson is a senior Australian solicitor specializing in IPOs on the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) whom for the last 13 years acted as an IPO partner in the Australian law firm of HWL EBSWORTH in Sydney.
Doron Afik, Esq., managing partner of Afik & Co., told Globes: "Over the last few years, the firm has focused on the Israeli-Australian market and in full cooperation with the Australia-Israel Chamber of Commerce, which is doing a tremendous job, we work to promote trade between the two countries generally, inter alia by assisting Israeli companies to list on the ASX and in managing their business thereafter. Paul's joining our office is an important milestone for us, enabling us to provide Australian legal advice in Israel, with all the advantages that this entails, both for our Israeli customers and for Australian customers. "
In recent years there has been a great deal of excitement regarding the integration of Israeli companies into the Australian capital market. With the listing of the Israeli fintech company Splitit in January of this year, the number of Israeli companies traded in Australia reached 20. "We are concurrently dealing with several IPOs, and despite the less impressive performance of most Israeli companies on the ASX, there is no doubt that the Australian market is still interested in Israeli companies," Stephenson explains from Sydney where he is now on a two-week business trip. "I pushed the Australian stock exchange a few years ago to take an interest in the Israeli market, and in a meeting I had with the management of the ASX in Sydney this week the ASX confirmed that it remains enthusiastic about the listing of Israeli companies on the Australian market. Most of the Israeli companies that IPOed in Australia are start-up companies at the beginning of their journey, and the Australian market is anxious to receive more mature Israeli companies with seven-digit revenues and preferably with profitability. Companies that take advantage of the open arms that the Australian stock Exchange extends to Israeli companies will benefit from a developed capital market, a jumping-board to Western countries as well as the Far East and the many other advantages of having business operations based in Australia and direct access to the Australian capital market. "