Sources inform ''Globes'' that Papo Maritime Ltd., owned by the Nakash brothers, today submitted the only bid in the tender for the privatization of Eilat Port Company Ltd.
In late July, Israel Chemicals Ltd. (TASE: ICL), controlled by Ofer Holdings Group through Israel Corporation (TASE: ILCO), quit the tender, saying that it made the decision "after analysis and learning the lessons from participation in the first tender, and the public response to that, and after concluding that any future participation by the company for the operation of the Eilat Port would have the same result as the first tender."
Israel Chemicals was the only bidder that submitted the NIS 15 million guarantee, a threshold condition of the tender. None of the other three finalists submitted the guarantee, on the grounds that the government's NIS 100 million starting price for the bids was unrealistic. The finalists were Gadot Chemical Tankers and Terminals Ltd., controlled by Yosef Maiman, Gold Bond Group Ltd. (TASE:GOLD), controlled by Shlomo Shmeltzer; and Papo Maritime.
Eilat Port's profit fell to NIS 1.7 million for the first quarter of 2012 from NIS 5.7 million for the corresponding quarter.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on September 9, 2012
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