Israel’s Minister of Economy Eli Cohen is currently visiting Japan, where he is meeting with government officials and business leaders.
Cohen met on Tuesday with the CEO of Tokyo-based ORIX Corporation, a financial services group holding an investment portfolio with energy, infrastructure, transportation and real estate assets in nearly 40 countries around the world.
This past July, ORIX became the largest shareholder in Israel’s Ormat Technologies, paying $630 million for a 22.1 percent stake in the firm and bringing Stan Koyanagi and Yuichi Nishigori on to the board. Todd Freeland became the new chairman.
Cohen also met with the CEO of Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Corporation, a member of the Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, which acquired the Israeli pharmaceutical firm NeuroDerm Ltd. for $1.1 billion this past July as well.
The Rehovot-based clinical-stage pharmaceutical company, founded in 2003, develops next-generation treatments for central nervous system disorders. When it was acquired in July, NeuroDerm had three clinical-stage product candidates in development that offer a form of treatment for nearly every patient with Parkinson’s disease spanning the range of severity of the illness.
