The merger of Israel Military Industries Ltd. (IMI) and Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Ltd. is off the table. Sources inform ''Globes'' that Minister of Finance Yuval Steinitz and Minister of Defense Ehud Barak met Histadrut chairman Ofer Eini earlier this week to discuss IMI and the problems in merging the company with Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Ltd. and they agreed that the merger was off the agenda at this stage. They also agreed to try to shortly promote a plan to privatize IMI.
The government and the Histadrut (General Federation of Labor in Israel) will meet again in the coming days.
Meanwhile, Barak and Steinitz have asked the Knesset Finance Committee for an urgent meeting tomorrow to approve a NIS 90 million loan IMI to pay July salaries. IMI has to pay NIS 60 million in salaries for July, and it also needs NIS 30 million to pay for raw materials for production.
The salaries are due to be paid while the government seeks a permanent solution for the ongoing crisis at IMI.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on August 10, 2011
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2011