Viola Private Equity and Nochi Dankner-controlled IDB Holding Corp. Ltd. (TASE:IDBH) have broken off negotiations for the sale of 40% of Clal Industries and Investments Ltd. (TASE: CII) to Viola. The parties disagree on a mechanism to protect Viola if Clal Industries' value falls over time, and Viola wants milestone payments.
IDB Holdings unit IDB Development Corporation Ltd. owns 60.4% of Clal Industries, and is seeking to sell 40% of the company at a value of NIS 3.8 billion. IDB is offering Viola a seller's loan to buy the holding company.
It is quite possible that the parties will resume negotiations next week. A source close to the talks told "Globes", "There are ups and downs in any negotiations. At the moment, we're in a down, but the negotiations haven’t been called off."
Dankner first tried to sell the Clal Industries stake to his partner in IDB, the Livnat family, which owns 13.33% of the company.
Viola and IDB declined to comment on the report.
Clal Industries' share price fell 2.5% today to NIS 17.49, giving a market cap of NIS 2.7 billion, but IDB Holding's share price rose 0.9% to NIS 40.73, giving a market cap of NIS 1.6 billion.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on February 2, 2012
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