At the request of Far East Finance, controlled by Bruce Rappaport, the Tel Aviv District Court issued an ex parte temporary restraining order against a possible deal between a group headed by Edgar Bronfman and Bronfman-Alon, which acquired the controlling interest in Blue Square Israel (NYSE: BSI; TASE:BSI).
The restraining order is contingent on the deposit of a $300,000 autonomous bank guarantee. Judge Yehuda Zaft said the size of the bank guarantee was required by the regulations, due to the risk to the deal that the petitioner was seeking to prevent, and the size of the deal.
Zaft added that the NIS 50,000 guarantee stipulated in the civil procedure regulations was not proportionate to the risk, and did not meet the substance of the guarantee deposit obligation. The response to the petition will be filed within 10 days, and a hearing in the presence of the parties will be held on June 22.
As reported in “Globes”, Rappaport is seeking to prevent the Challenge Fund - Etgar, in which he is a partner of Edgar Bronfman, from investing $14 million in the Blue Square Israel deal. Matthew Bronfman, Edgar Bronfman’s son, is a partner in the deal, together with the Dor Alon group. Edgar Bronfman currently chairs Etgar’s investment committee.
Far East Finance has invested $24.5 million to date in Etgar.
Published by Globes [online] - www.globes.co.il - on June 2, 2003