Apax Partners Israel, headed by Zehavit Cohen, is negotiating the sale of investment house Psagot to US private equity firm Centerbridge Partners, for a price between NIS 2.5 billion and NIS 3 billion, according to market sources. Such a price would be substantially lower than the valuation that Cohen sought in the flotation that was mooted in the past, but it is still four times higher than the market cap of Meitav Dash, the second largest investment house in Israel, and higher than the calculated valuation of Yelin Lapidot, which is highly profitable in relation to the rest of the industry. All the same, the price tag is not a great deal higher than the price attached to Meitav Dash in the sale negotiations with XIO Group, which in the end did not lead to a deal. RELATED ARTICLES Tnuva sale to go ahead, Clal Insurance stalled Bright Food finally completes acquisition of Tnuva Apax cancels Zap IPO Apax confirms Syneron acquisition for $397m Comptroller: Apax handed billions in tax benefits in Tnuva deal Apax bought control (72.6%) of Psagot in 2010 from York Capital Management at a valuation of NIS 2.7 billion. In late 2015, Apax bought the minority holding from Markstone at a valuation of just NIS 1.9 billion, so that the total price that it paid for Israel's largest investment house was NIS 2.5 billion. Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on October 22, 2018 © Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2018
