Financial institutions down just $500m on Teva holdings

Teva photo: PR

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The main blow to savers came last year.

The bad news is that the steep drop in the Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (NYSE: TEVA; TASE: TEVA) share price cost Israeli pension savers NIS 6 billion just in 2016, according to a "Globes" analysis.

The good news, derived from the bad news, is that the current exposure to Teva in pension portfolios is relatively low, apparently because the main blow already landed last year.

According to figures obtained by "Globes," the aggregate holdings of all the financial institutions in Teva totaled NIS 11 billion as of the end of 2015, and fell to NIS 7.2 billion a year later. The decline in holdings would have been even steeper had not the institutions taken advantage of the fall in the share price to increase their holdings in Teva by buying shares for NIS 2.3 billion. According to this calculation, the net loss attributable to the fall in the share price is therefore NIS 6.1 billion.

The plunge in Teva's share price late last week decreased the value of the financial institutions' holdings by $500 million, according to figures from the stocker.co.il website. According to these figures, Israeli investment institutions hold 4.27% of Teva's share capital in long-term savings instruments, and 0.37% more through mutual funds. Teva's share currently constitutes 5.6% of the Tel Aviv 35, the leading index on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE).

The biggest loser among Israeli investment institutions should have been Menorah Mivtachim Holdings Ltd. (TASE: MORA), which held 7.7 million Teva shares at the end of March. The value of these shares fell by $81.9 million late last week. At the same time, according to figures published today by Menorah, it has since sold shares, and now holds 4.9 million shares, meaning that its loss on paper was $52 million.

With 5.5 million Teva shares, Migdal Insurance and Financial Holdings Ltd. (TASE: MGDL) lost $58.5 million on paper, followed by Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd. (TASE: CLIS) and Harel Insurance Investments and Financial Services Ltd. (TASE: HARL), which lost $54 million and $50.4 million, respectively.

The mutual fund with the largest holdings in Teva shares is Psagot Mutual Funds, which holds 664,000 shares, the value of which fell by $7.1 million late last week. Psagot holds 2.8 million more shares in long-term savings instruments, on which its loss on paper totals $30 million.