Dan Bus Company several months ago acquired the 25% stake of the Noy Fund and apparently also French railway company SNCF's 15% stake in the franchise holder for the Metronit Haifa bus project. The price was NIS 40 million, about the same as the price at which the two companies bought their shares five years ago, sources inform "Globes."
It is believed that the two companies posted some return on their investment, because Metronit distributed some funds during the investment period. At the same time, it appears that the Noy Fund, managed by chairperson Pinchas (Pini) Cohen and co-managing partners Gil-Ad Boshwitz and Ran Shelach, did not find the project interesting or strategic enough to continue holding it.
Metronit is a high-speed bus system that uses long buses traveling mostly in special public transportation lanes.
Metronit, which serves Haifa and the Krayot region north of it, is the first bus rapid transit system in Israel. Work on the project began in 2007 and continued until the summer of 2013, when a run-in period several months long began, followed by full-scale operation in December 2013.
In January 2014, shortly after Metronit began operating, a State Comptroller's Report revealed faulty management of the system. Among other things, the State Comptroller reported that Yafe Nof, a municipal company owned by the Haifa municipality, which was responsible for the project, had spent triple the NIS 1.6 billion estimated cost on it.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on April 29, 2018
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