Brothers Tzahi and Chen Neuman, who are bidding to take over Bezeq Israeli Telecommunication Co. Ltd. (TASE: BEZQ), have signed a memorandum of understandings with the group's workers committees - at Bezeq itself, and subsidiaries Bezeq International and Pelephone. Under the memorandum of understandings, employees' rights will be preserved, the Neuman brothers will honor existing collective agreements, the company's financial strength will be maintained, and employees will participate in future profits.
The Bezeq workers signed a similar agreement with the Apax-Saban consortium when the company was privatized. The agreement gives the Neuman brothers a certain advantage if an auction is held for the sale of Bezeq, but other bidders will presumably have to offer similar terms to the employees.
The only company in the Bezeq group whose employee representatives have not signed an agreement is satellite broadcaster Yes. Yes's employees are represented by the National Labor Federation in Eretz-Israel (Histadrut Leumit), whereas the employees in the other group companies are represented by the General Federation of Labor in Israel (Histadrut Clalit).
The Neuman brothers are offering to buy the shares of B Communications Ltd. (Nasdaq:BCOM; TASE: BCOM) (Bezeq's parent company) held by Internet Gold Golden Lines Ltd. (Nasdaq: IGLD; TASE:IGLD) at a valuation of NIS 1 billion. The creditor banks of Eurocom (Internet Gold's parent company) have filed for an injunction against the deal and are demanding an auction for the sale of the shares. Investment house Altshuler Shaham, the second largest shareholder in Internet Gold, supports the banks' position.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on June 24, 2018
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