Antitrust Authority director general Dror Strum will approve the sale of Phoenicia Glass Works Ltd. (Phoenicia Yeruham) to Israel Equity (IEL), only if its containers business is kept separate from Tadbik Advanced Technologies (TASE:TADB), controlled by IEL.
3i (Investment In Industry) group, owned by Aviv Algor and Ian Nigel Davies, owns Phoenicia Glass Works, makes jars for beverages, food and candles. It was declared a monopoly in this sector in 1998.
Phoenicia Glass Works's buyer, IEL, owned by Dov Tadmor, and the US-based Mandel family, also controls Tadbik, which makes packaging and customized labels, including for containers. The company's ink presses also produce plastic labels and shrink wrap for containers.
The Antitrust Authority's economics division found that because Phoenicia Glass Works' customers for its jars also extensively use plastic packaging for storing their products, there was concern that Phoenicia Glass Works could exploit its monopolistic power in jar making to link the marketing of jars to Tadbik's activities.
Strum therefore decided to approve IEL's acquisition of Phoenicia Glass Works, subject to the condition that Phoenicia Glass Works may not link the supply of glass storage containers, or of related services, to the purchase or use of any product or service from IEL or companies held by IEL.
Published by Globes [online] - www.globes.co.il - on November 30, 2004