Delek Group Ltd. (TASE: DLEKG), controlled by Yitzhak Tshuva, has reported that it will receive a $100 million dividend from its North Sea unit Ithaca Energy Ltd. The money will be used to pay back most of its $137 million loan from French bank BNP Paribas.
Delek acquired Ithaca from Chevron in 2019 for $1.75 billion. The dividend has been approved by a consortium of 15 banks led by RBL, which loaned $1.1 billion for the acquisition by Delek based on forecasts for oil and gas prices in the coming years. Delek said, "The approval is a major vote of confidence in Ithaca's future reserves, its operational capabilities, financial soundness and hedging strategy despite the low oil prices."
Delek added, "Ithaca continues to keep liquidity with us. Nefore distributing the current dividend, the free credit and unused credit framework of Ithaca stood at $400 million, and in just one year, Ithaca reduced the RBL used credit framework from $1.1 billion to about $700 million.
Delek says that $100 million that will be received, with another $30 million that Delek will receive from the sale of other assets, will leave just a $7 million debt to BNP Paribas, while Ithaca has a valuation of $1.2 billion.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on November 3, 2020
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