Sources inform ''Globes'' that Canada's Ghermezian family is a partner in the Keshernet consortium set up by Yehiel Ben-Shoshan to bid in the tender for a new mobile carrier.
The sources added that Keshernet is also interested in participating in the tender for the Israel Electric Corporation (IEC) (TASE: ELEC.B22) fiber optics telecommunications infrastructure venture. Keshernet advisor Haim Romano, the former CEO of El Al Israel Airlines Ltd. (TASE: ELAL) and deputy CEO of Partner Communications Ltd. (Nasdaq: PTNR; TASE: PTNR), will also be part of the venture, and may take an executive position in it.
Yesterday, Nader Ghermezian and Ben-Shoshan met IEC CEO Amos Lasker to obtain details about the company's fiber optics venture. Many players are interested in the venture, because it is an opportunity to enter Israel's telecommunications market, which has is fairly closed with high entry barriers.
Partners in the Keshernet group include Pario Solutions Inc., which manages mobile ventures in 12 US states.
Ben-Shoshan returned to Israel after several years in the US, where he founded and managed mobile virtual network operators (MVNO). Keshernet will bid in the mobile carrier tender with Mirs Communications Ltd., and probably also alongside 018 Communications Ltd. owner Hezi Bezalel.
The Ghermezians are a Canadian Jewish family of Persian origin, which, through its TripleFive Group of Companies, is engaged in real estate, hotels, minerals, oil and gas, truck manufacturing, biotechnology, and engineering. The family's wealth is estimated at $4 billion. Last week, the family acquired stock market shell Binyan Mortgage Bank Ltd. (TASE: BNIN-M) from David Biniashvili, with the intention of turning it into an oil and gas exploration platform.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on December 8, 2010
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