Excellence Investments Ltd. (TASE:EXCE) founders Roni Biram and Gil Deutsch today informed Israel Phoenix Assurance Ltd. (TASE:PHOE1; PHOE5) of their intent to exercise their "put" option to sell the remaining shares they hold in the company in accordance with the agreement between the sides from January 5, 2006.
In the announcement Biram and Deutsch informed Israel Phoenix Assurance that in accordance with the instructions of the agreement they will sell their 40.88% holding in Excellence Investments in May 2009. On the same date Israel Phoenix Assurance will transfer 90% of the payment for the shares. The overall payment is believed to amount to about NIS 700 million.
With the realization of its "buy" option, Israel Phoenix Assurance will become the sole controlling shareholder in Excellence Investments.
Biram and Deutsch behaved in a "business as usual" manner towards Delek Group Ltd. (TASE:DLEKG), the Israel Phoenix Assurance's controlling shareholders. Their strike price stressed that they are not prepared to enter negotiations over the amount for realizing the option to sell the company. Market sources indicate that Delek Group tried to conduct negotiations on exercising the option with one of the proposals being to exchange part of the cash for shares in Israel Phoenix Assurance.
In the first stage of the transaction in 2006, Biran and Deutsch sold 15.87% of their equity in Excellence to Israel Phoenix Assurance according to a basic company evaluation of NIS 775 million. At the same time, Israel Phoenix Assurance acquired an additional 25% of the company's shares from Mizrahi Tefahot Bank (TASE:MZTF) bringing their holding to 40.88%. The deal also gave Biran and Deutsch the "put" option to sell the 40.88% that they still held.
The final price of realizing the "put" option will be calculated according to Excellence's equity and its profit according to its 2008 and 2009 financial statements.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on January 11, 2009
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