Teva Delists From TASE, Mylan May Follow

The decision of Teva Pharmaceuticals to delist from the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange will not affect the company’s share price, but it will hurt trading in the Israeli market, said an analyst interviewed by Globes.

As of Tuesday, Teva will use the American Depositary Receipt (ADR) listing, trading on the New York Stock Exchange, instead of the TASE. Exchange traded funds (ETFs) that track the index have to sell Teva shares in Israel and buy them in the U.S. This caused a flurry of trading in Teva shares at Monday’s close in Tel Aviv.

IBI analyst Steven Tepper was quoted as saying Teva’s share price or overall trading volumes will remain the same, but it will adversely affect trading in the stock in Israel, and consequently total trading volumes on the TASE.

The holdings in Teva of funds that track the MSCI index are estimated at NIS 2 billion, about 4 percent of the company’s market cap. Over the past six months, average daily turnover in Teva shares has been about NIS 100 million, some 10 percent of total turnover on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange.

The local market is girding for a further blow, if Mylan also decides to delist. Mylan’s TASE listing was linked to its failed bid to take over Perrigo. Now that that’s past, the company may well decide to delist when its one-year signup expires in November. If so, it will mean the loss to TASE of an average daily turnover of NIS 28 million.