Sources inform ''Globes'' that that the Gindi Investments 1 Ltd. (TASE: GIND.B1), Moshe and Igal Gindi Ltd., and Blue Square Real Estate Ltd. (TASE: BLSR) consortium is on the verge of signing a deal for the first stage of the Tel Aviv wholesale market site, after two weeks of no-shop negotiations with the sellers.
Unless there is a last-minute collapse, the consortium will pay NIS 950 million, not including VAT and a NIS 500 million upside component, to build 600 apartments in the first stage of the project. The total deal amounts to almost NIS 1.5 billion.
Gindi Investments and Moshe and Igal Gindi originally bid in the wholesale market tender without Blue Square Real Estate, controlled by David Weissman through Alon Israel Oil Company Ltd. supermarket subsidiary Blue Square Israel Ltd. (NYSE: BSI; TASE: BSI). "Globes" first reported that Blue Square Real Estate joined the Gindis in January.
The first stage of the wholesale market project - Lot 6 - is zoned for 15,000 square meters of mixed residential and commercial use, including 600 apartments. The current talks do not cover the construction of four residential high-rises planned for the site, which the wholesale market sellers plan to market at a later date.
Tnuva Food Industries Ltd. owns 60% of the wholesale market, the Tel Aviv-Jaffa Municipality owns 25%, Adv. Shraga Biran owns 6%, and former traders in the market own the rest.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on March 7, 2010
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