In an interview with "Channel 10", IDB Holding Corp. Ltd. (TASE:IDBH) chairman Nochi Dankner compared himself to a gladiator at the Coliseum and said that mistakes were made.
"I wouldn’t wish this on anyone, but I have to tell you that I am discovering sources of strength that I didn’t know I had. You know that I described at a board of directors meeting that when I wake up in the morning, I feel like a gladiator who is going to fight in the Coliseum. It turns out that the Tel Aviv Coliseum is crueler and thirstier for blood than the ancient Roman Coliseum and you know that, in the beginning, I was sent to other gladiatorial contests, but I am now in the arena with elephants and tigers and lions, and the challenge is great."
Dankner added, "This entire war that I am waging, and I am working day and night, is so that IDB's companies can repay their debts to creditors, the banks, and the bondholders, in the hope that everything will turn out all right."
Responding to claims that his errors caused IDB's dismal condition, Dankner said, "Business mistakes were made here and there, and when I say 'here and there', it isn't to denigrate them; of course mistakes are made. For eight years, I was only praised and exalted; I won awards and every possible title in the economy, and might just as well have never happened. I don’t accept it, just as I didn’t accept the previous exaggerated admiration. I don’t accept what people are saying now."
Dankner partly blames the mobile market reform for IDB's current condition. "I think that in business, you have to constantly monitor risk factors more meticulously. For example, I didn’t expect, we didn’t expect, the disproportionate reform in the mobile market, which may have been justified, but should have been more gradual. It greatly hurt Cellcom Israel Ltd. (NYSE:CEL; TASE:CEL), and therefore IDB as a whole. Cellcom was one of our most important holdings, both in terms of cash flow, and as an asset, and the blow to Cellcom greatly hurt IDB."
As for the investment in Credit Suisse Group AG (NYSE: CS; SWX: CSGN; XETRA: CSGZ), which many people consider another major factor that emptied IDB's coffers, Dankner said, "I bought the Credit Suisse shares in September 2008. We made a profit of $1 billion in the first round of the purchase of 3.25% of Credit Suisse. This was described as the second most important decision in the country after Menachem Begin's decision to bomb the Iraqi nuclear reactor. This seems to me to have been blown all out of proportion.
"As for the second investment round in Credit Suisse, I can only say, take a pencil and paper, and do the math. You'll see that, to date, we've profited from Credit Suisse. We haven’t lost money, so if they've forgotten this and want to ignore the first part of the investment, in which we made $1 billion, so be it."
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on August 11, 2013
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