Israir Airlines Ltd. is to begin trading on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE) after parent company BGI Investments Ltd. (TASE: BGI) completed purchase of full ownership of the airline. BGI, which is controlled by Rami Levy and Shalom Haim's Shay Odem, will change its name to Israir and will try to raise NIS 80 million from the public at a company valuation of NIS 350-400 million, after money.
BGI, which bought control of Israir in February 2021, has now exercised a call option to buy the remaining 49% stake from the trustee of IDB Development and Rami Levy himself. Israir also reported that it has recycled a NIS 40 million loan from Bank Leumi taken in 2018 to finance its fleet.
Israir received NIS 16 million from the government in May 2021 for tickets for security staff for the next 20 years to help the airline survive the Covid crisis. At present foreign tourists are barred from entering Israel until January 5 and Israelis are barred from traveling to many European countries and the UAE but it is hoped that these restrictions will soon be relaxed. Prior to the rise of the Omicron variant last month, Israir operated four to five weekly flights to the UAE.
Between January and November 2021, Israir flew 310,000 passengers to and from Israel - 6% of the overall passenger traffic passenger passing through Ben Gurion airport.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on January 2, 2022.
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