Apax Partners Israel CEO Zehavit Cohen has resigned her positions as chairwoman of Psagot Investment House Ltd. and Tnuva Food Industries Ltd.. She will stay on as a director at Tnuva. The resignations follow the opening of an investigation by the Antitrust Authority against Tnuva on suspicion of concealing information from it.
Shlomo Rodev, the former chairman of Bezeq Israeli Telecommunication Co. Ltd. (TASE: BEZQ), was appointed to replace Cohen as chairman of Tnuva, and Psagot's board of directors appointed Ron Gutler as acting chairman. Psagot will announce a permanent chairman in a few weeks.
In a statement today, Cohen said, "I took this decision to make sure that each company has a full-time chairman who will devote all his time to the company, and focus on its growth in view of the changing economic climate. As I have said before, an investment house must act ceaselessly, and so I decided to resign from all positions at Psagot until the Antitrust Authority completes its investigation into Tnuva."
Cohen added that she will take up a position as director at Psagot when the Tnuva investigation is completed. The Antitrust Authority investigation and the under the consumer boycott of the dairy and food company have battered the reputation of Apax, Cohen, and Tnuva, and have intensified the pressure on Cohen.
Cohen said Tnuva would fully cooperate with the Antitrust Authority investigation. She hopes that "the investigation will be completed quickly and prove that Tnuva and its management acted properly." She said that resigning as chairwoman of Tnuva and Psagot would enable her to focus on her job as CEO of Apax Israel.
Apax Partners CEO Martin Halusa gave his full support for Cohen. In a statement, he said, "Zehavit has done outstanding work at Tnuva and Psagot. We are proud that she heads the Israeli office and we completely trust her ability to continue to locate and invest in Israeli companies and grow them. In view of the current circumstances, we understand her decision and support her, and we hope that she will quickly return as a director at Psagot."
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on October 2, 2011
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