After selling Eliezer Fishman's controlling interest in Jerusalem Economy Ltd. (TASE:ECJM) (JEC), Bank Leumi (TASE: LUMI) has now reached agreement with Fishman on the sale of his privately owned assets. Fishman has reached agreement with the bank on most of his estimated NIS 1.5 billion debt.
The arrangement was submitted today to the Tel Aviv District Court. Under the agreement, Advocates Eyal Rosovsky and Ronen Matry will be appointed special managers for the assets mortgaged to the bank, and will take steps to sell them. Theirvalueis estimated in the hundreds of millions of shekels. Proceeds from the sales will goto the bank.
Fishman undertook to assist the sale and handling of the assets in order to maximize the proceeds from them. The arrangement includes land in Azor that currently houses Offis Textile, and which was previously zoned for a housing and commercial project. The assets to be sold also include a shopping center in Acre, a plot in Petah Tikva, and 60% of Tnoport, which deals in real estate and packing plants.
The agreement includes the sale of Fishman's assets attached in favor of Bank Leumi, but the receivers to be appointed will not deal with assets in real estate company CDK, in which the bank holds a lien on only some of the shares. Fishman undertook to provide the special managers with full information about any deal that is not part of the company's ordinary business, and that a deal for selling the company will not take place until 30 days after the bank has been notified. The arrangement also did not include the sale of Fishman's holdings in "Globes," which are held in partnership with the Bar-On family. The Bar-On family has first refusal rights in the event of a sale of these shares.
The compromise provided for the appointment of Adv. Shalom Goldblatt as an observer on Fishman's behalf. Rosovsky and Matry will inform Goldblatt about the proceedings for selling the properties.
This is the second stage in the proceedings between Bank Leumi and Fishman. In the first stage, the bank, managed by CEO Rakefet Russak-Aminoach, sold the main asset on which it held a lien - shares in Jerusalem Economy. After a long period during which the bank attempted to sell the shares, it eventually sold most of Fishman's controlling interest to a group of investors headed by Zohar Levy for NIS 200 million.
Fishman also owes Bank Hapoalim (TASE: POLI) about the same amount that he owes to Bank Leumi. Bank Hapoalim holds liens on his holdings in Ten Petrol, the "Yediot Ahronot" daily newspaper, Home Center, and other assets. The bank tried to find investors for some of these holdings, but has not sold them so far. Fishman also owes money to Israel Discount Bank (TASE: DSCT), Mizrahi Tefahot Bank (TASE:MZTF), and Union Bank of Israel (TASE: UNON).
Eliezer Fishman is the controlling shareholder in "Globes".
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on June 16, 2016
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