Cal Credit Cards and Psagot in talks to set up factoring co

Israel Credit Cards-Cal Ltd. (ICC-Cal), managed by Boaz Chechik, is in advanced negotiations with Psagot Financing and Factoring Ltd. (TASE:PSFN) owned by Avihai Stolero, to set up a jointly owned factoring company. In an announcement to the TASE, Psagot denied earlier reports that ICC-Cal was attempting to acquire it, but confirmed talks about establishing a jointly owned factoring company. Stolero holds 69.6% of the shares of Psagot, which is engaged in factoring and trade financing.

Psagot Financing and Factoring finished the first half of 2008 with a loss of NIS 3.1 million and equity of NIS 15.4 million, and is today traded on the TASE with a market cap of about NIS 23.9 million.

Through the new venture ICC-Cal can broaden the scope of its activities and offer non-banking financing solutions to businesses.

Factoring is a popular non-banking finance method, which is still in its formative stage in Israel. Factoring firms pay cash upfront for a company's accounts receivable.

Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on November 11, 2008