GHI, a subsidiary of Maman Cargo Terminals and Handling (TASE: MMAN), and Laufer Aviation, a company that provides ground services for airlines and passengers at Ben Gurion Airport, yesterday signed a merger agreement. The merged company will be named Laufer Aviation GHI. Laufer and Maman will each own half of the merged company. The agreement is subject to approval by the Antitrust Authority.
Maman CEO aviation services Uzi Dolev will be CEO of the merged company, and Dave Laufer, up until now managing director of Laufer Aviation, will be acting chairman. The Laufer family owns Laufer Aviation.
Maman general manager Eli Dalal said that business conditions resulting from the intifada-induced tourism crisis required consolidation of the activities of GHI and Laufer Aviation. He added that airlines had recently been putting downward pressure on services prices, while constantly demanding better service.
Customers of Laufer Aviation and GHI include Lufthansa, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines (NYSE: KLM), Air France, and Alitalia.
The two companies in the merger were set to compete with each other in the future, and Antitrust Authority director general Dror Strum will have to take this into account. Laufer Aviation is part of the Swissport Cargo Services Israel group, which recently won a Israel Airports Authority tender to build a second cargo terminal at Ben Gurion Airport, in competition with Maman’s terminal.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes.co.il - on December 29, 2004