El Al Israel Airlines Ltd. (TASE:ELAL) has asked permission from the Ministry of Finance for approval to postpone the planned TASE offering in July, "due to the changes in the business environment and the influence of the Covid Delta variant."
El Al was supposed to hold a public offering to raise $105 million as part of the government's aid package. However, El Al has notified the TASE that there is no certainty that the Ministry of Finance will agree to the postponement.
As part of the agreement reached in May, El Al received an advance of $210 million for future tickets for security personnel for the next 20 years, and the airline agreed to an offering of half that amount, with the controlling shareholders Kenny and Eli Rozenberg committed to buying shares worth $43 million. El Al stresses that it has been hampered by the Israeli government's restrictions on international travel including a complete ban on countries like the UK, which have high infection rates, and the continued ban on non-Israeli passport holders entering the country.
El Al recently laid off 2,000 of its 6,000 employees and still has 1,400 employees on unpaid leave. There have recently been reports that El Al may implement further streamlining with 30 more layoffs.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on July 28, 2021
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2021