Israeli-Russian businessman David Sapir has offered to buy joint control of financially strapped El Al Israel Airlines, promising to use his business ties to return Israel’s flag carrier to profitability, Reuters reported. Sapir, whose businesses include infrastructure, telecoms and tourism, has offered to pay $51 million for 190 million new shares in El Al, which is the same amount of shares held by controlling shareholder Knafaim Holdings (KNFM.TA), and a 20% premium to El Al’s closing share price on Tuesday in Tel Aviv.
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The Israeli government will demand that El Al Israel Airlines carries out an overhaul, including layoffs, before agreeing to throw a lifeline to the cash-strapped airline, officials said on Sunday, Reuters reported. El Al, Israel’s flag carrier, is seeking state-backed loans of $400 million to help it through the coronavirus crisis, as foreigners are barred from entering the country and incoming Israelis must enter quarantine. The airline suspended passenger flights until at least the end of May while about 6,000 of its workers are on unpaid leave until June 30.
Delek Drilling said on Monday it was considering listing its holdings in the Leviathan natural gas field off Israel's Mediterranean coast on the London Stock Exchange as part of a corporate restructuring, the International New York Times reported on a Reuters story. Delek Drilling, a unit of conglomerate Israel's Delek Group, said it would retain its holdings in the Tamar and Dalit gas sites, also off Israel's coast, under the plan being considered.
The family of Israeli property tycoon Amir Dayan is among buyers of a portfolio of U.K. hotels leased to Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc., according to people with knowledge of the deal. The group of nine hotels, which entered a form of bankruptcy protection under U.K. insolvency laws starting in early 2018, was acquired by companies controlled by Vivion Investments Sarl for 246 million pounds ($315 million), according to a filing by the administrators appointed to oversee the properties, Bloomberg News reported.
Teva Pharmaceutical Industries raised its 2018 earnings outlook, said it was seeing “a very strong launch” for its long-awaited migraine treatment Ajovy and expects to launch generic EpiPen in the fourth quarter. Teva raised its full-year forecast for adjusted EPS to $2.80-$2.95, from a previous estimate of $2.55-$2.80 and its shares were 8.5 percent higher in early U.S. trading, Reuters reported. The company also said it was on track with plans to reduce its workforce by 14,000, having let over 9,000 employees go so far. Net debt decreased by $800 million to $27.6 billion.
On Sunday, a Tel Aviv district court judge ordered the liquidation of Eurocom Communications Ltd., the communication arm of Israel-based Eurocom Group, and ordered its real estate arm into receivership, CTech reported. Eurocom's most attractive asset is Bezeq, Israel's biggest telecommunication provider and a monopoly in the country, which it holds through subsidiaries. Attempts to sell Eurocom were stymied due to shareholders opposition in Bezeq. The directives will take effect on May 3rd. The judge did not approve Eurocom's creditor arrangements.
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Israel's main labor federation intends to take labor or legal action against Teva Pharmaceutical Industries if the drugmaker does not suspend a decision to close a plant in the Israeli port city of Ashdod, it said on Sunday. Debt-laden Teva, the world's largest generic drugmaker and Israel's biggest company, said last week that it would close the unprofitable plant in March 2019 after failing to find a buyer for the facility, the International New York Times reported on a Reuters story.
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Management missteps and tectonic shifts in the pharmaceutical business have battered Teva, which faces declining prices for generic drugs and the loss of a patent on a major branded drug, the New York Times reported. More than $20 billion has been shorn from the company’s market capitalization since 2017 began, cutting Teva’s value roughly in half. Everyone in Israel knew that layoffs and plant closings were coming, but what was expected was something akin to painful trims. Instead, on Dec. 14, Teva announced what amounted to an amputation.
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Israel’s markets regulator will propose regulation to ban companies based on bitcoin and other digital currencies from trading on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, Reuters reported. Shmuel Hauser, the chairman of the Israel Securities Authority (ISA), told the Calcalist business conference he will bring the proposal to the ISA board next week. If approved, it would be subject to a public hearing and then the stock exchange bylaws would need to be amended. “If we have a company that their main business is digital currencies we would not allow it.
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