A consortium of British businessmen is currently being put together to bid for the controlling interest in Bank Leumi.
Minister of Finance Ya'akov Ne'eman met representatives of the consortium in London last week. The Minister of Finance’s media adviser, Esti Applebaum, was not prepared to divulge further details about these businessmen. It is known that there are also investment banks interested in purchasing the controlling interest.
The subject of Bank Leumi arose during a breakfast the Minister of finance held with 100 British businessmen. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also participated. Later on, Ne’eman also held a series of personal meetings with businessmen and bankers. The Minister of Finance formed the impression that the consortium intends to bid in the tender for purchasing the controlling interest in Bank Leumi. Consortium representatives expressed considerable interest, and the Israeli Embassy in London was requested to assist in the matter.
Before leaving for overseas, Ne’eman announced he had decided to sell the controlling interests in Bank Leumi and Discount Bank next year. In this connection, it was disclosed that Bank Leumi will be the first bank to be sold in 1998, once the sale of the controlling interest in Bank Hapoalim to the consortium headed by Ted Arison is completed.
The State holds 63.5% of Bank Leumi at present.
Meanwhile, Bank Leumi workers’ committee chairman Louis Rot said today that "selling Bank Leumi to a private investor is against the national interest and liable to harm both employees and customers." He said that "it is inconceivable that both of the major banks in the country should be held by private people." Rot said that the bank’s employees would support privatisation through a stock exchange issue and wide distribution of the bank’s shares among the public.