Court approves Rami Levy’s planned Israir acquisition

Beating its January 3 deadline to do so, Tel Aviv District Court approved the sale of Israir (6H, Tel Aviv Ben Gurion) to BGI Investments, following a protracted bidding process. At the hearing, Ophir Naor, the lawyer and trustee appointed to oversee the sale on behalf of bondholders for IDB Development – and who had recommended BGI’s bid to the court above two other rival bids in a final public auction – was grateful for the ruling. “We have been through an intensive sales process with a company that is involved in a crisis that is hardly simple in this crazy Covid-19 era. I was privileged to get to know a very special management and employees. We will transfer the company in an organised fashion into good hands, and I am sure they will care about the future of its employees.” According to the judge, the bondholders had overwhelmingly rejected the two other bids by Moti Ben-Moshe, through Dor Alon, (rejected by 99%) and by real estate developer Yigal Dimri (by 75%), whose late bid triggered the final three-way auction. The court rejected an appeal against the process from Dimri.Discount-supermarket mogul Rami Levy’s BGI Investments, jointly-owned by businessman Shalom Haim, will pay ILS162 million shekels (USD50.5 million) for a 51% stake in the airline. Of the remaining 49%, Levy himself will hold 24% and IDB bondholders 25%, to be converted into BGI shares at a later stage. In explaining his preference for BGI, Naor said that not only was it worth ILS162 million, it also had a possible upside of up to USD200 million. The judge concluded that Israir’s creditors had spoken “loud and clear and there is no reason not to respect their wishes.” He also praised Israir CEO Uri Sirkis, who Levy has pledged to keep in place, and the carrier’s employees.