Dimri joins bidding for Africa-Israel

Yigal Dimri
Yigal Dimri

Y.H. Dimri's offer comes just days before the Africa-Israel bondholders are due to vote on which one to accept.

Just before the bondholders decide who will buy Africa-Israel, residential real estate company Y.H. Dimri Construction and Development Ltd., controlled by its CEO Yigal Dimri, has joined the race. Y.H. Dimri published an offer to purchase which, according to the figures that it presented, is worth NIS 1.1 billion, half the level of Africa-Israel's debt and similar to the four previous bids received by the bondholders.

Y.H. Dimri proposes to pay the bondholders NIS 571 million in cash and marketable securities; NIS 135 million when the settlement is carried out and NIS 200 million 60 days after that date, in addition to an allocation of shares in Y.H. Dimri worth NIS 114 million, representing 9% of the company's capital, and an allocation of its series 8 bonds to a value of NIS 95 million.

Y.H. Dimri's offer also includes future proceeds from the sale of land in Savyon held by Africa-Israel, valued at NIS 75 million. Y.H. Dimri reached its total of NIS 1.1 billion for the consideration through the addition of Africa-Israel's cash balance of NIS 363 million and of NIS 184 million from the operating company.

In formulating its offer, Y.H. Dimri was advised by Giza Singer Even, in reliance on a valuation of the other offers for Africa-Israel prepared by Baker Tilley, the consultant to the bondholders' representative.

In highlighting the advantages of its offer, Y.H. Dimri states: "Most of the components of the offer and the consideration that appears in it are on the basis of cash or liquid assets of the offeror, Y.H. Dimri, which provide, among other things, built-in exposure to a rise in value through shares in Y.H. Dimri for all the holdings and a reduction in exposure to conditional future mechanisms, in a way that is similar to the visibility and certainty of the cash flows and their present value."

Y.H. Dimri's offer comes after the Africa-Israel bondholders convened on Sunday to discuss the four bids that had been submitted for buying the company in a debt settlement, in anticipation of the vote on the matter planned for this Thursday. The previous offers were received from Mivtach Shamir, controlled by Meir Shamir; Lapidoth Capital, controlled by Jacob (Luxy) Luxenburg; Gad Zeevi; and real estate company Netanel Group together with Coleridge Capital controlled by US businessmen Larry Mizel and Michael Staenberg. All the bids are estimated to be worth NIS 1.1 billion.

Y.H. Dimri is one of the most prominent residential real estate companies in Israel. It has some 2,350 apartments under construction and altogether 16,500 apartments in various stages of construction and planning. In the past year its share price has risen by an impressive 60%, bringing the company to a peak market cap of NIS 1.4 billion.

Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on August 20, 2019

© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2019

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