Tel Aviv District Court Judge Varda Alshech today extended the stay of proceedings of Agrexco until the end of August. She ordered Agrexco trustee Adv. Shlomo Nass to translate the only serious bid for the agricultural produce exporter into a settlement with all creditors. This bid is from Kislev Forwarding and Customs Clearing Ltd., owned by Zvi Grinberg.
Judge Alshech slammed the government, Agrexco's biggest shareholder with a 30.3% stake, saying, "Astonishingly, the state folded its arms in the face of the company's collapse… I can only regret this conduct."
Judge Alshech called the competing bid by European private equity fund Vertical Capital Group to acquire part of the company and fire most of its employees as "having more holes than Swiss cheese".
Kislev is offering to keep 150 of Agrexco's employees. It is offering NIS 35 million in seven installments, plus NIS 55 million paid out of a proportion of the company's profits, for a total of NIS 90 million.
A final agreement has not yet been signed. Most of Agrexco's creditors are aware of its dire straits and agreed to the extension of the stay in proceedings. Judge Alshech warned that this would be the last extension, and she advised conducting a thorough investigation and bringing the people responsible for the company's collapse to justice. She said that this was as important as saving the company.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on August 11, 2011
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