After several failed attempts at delisting Direct Insurance - Financial Investments Ltd. (TASE: DIFI) from the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, Zur Shamir Holdings Ltd., controlled by the Schneidman family and managed by cousins Moshe and Doron Schneidman, succeeded in the mission yesterday. The Direct Insurance shareholders meeting approved the delisting of the stock at NIS 41 per share, in accordance with previous announcements in the matter. The price is slightly higher than the closing price of the stock yesterday.
The Zur Shamir group will now be able to meet the provisions of the Concentration Law. It will hold only two layers of public companies: Zur Shamir itself and the subsidiaries of Direct Insurance - Financial Investments as the second layer: IDI Insurance Company Ltd., income producing real estate company Adgar Investments & Development Ltd. - both of them public companies - and privately-held Direct Finance.
At present, the public owns 19.3% of Direct Insurance, which has a market cap of NIS 2.14 billion. The public's stake will now be purchased by Zur Shamir for NIS 433 million, after which Direct Insurance will have two owners: Zur Shamir, and Bank Leumi (TASE: LUMI), which holds 7.3%.
The delisting of Direct Insurance will enable work towards another aim: a flotation of consumer credit company Direct Finance, in which a minority stake (some 20%) is held by the provident and pension fund management company of investment house Altshuler Shaham, which itself was successfully floated earlier this year.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on September 9, 2019
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