Saidoff to pull out of Eurocom deal

Naty Saidoff  photo: Avi Shauly
Naty Saidoff photo: Avi Shauly

Naty Saidoff is demanding the return of his NIS 50 million deposit, claiming the conditions for his acquisition of Bezeq's controlling shareholder have not been met.

Representatives of Naty Saidoff today told the court and the banks that they intend withdrawing from the acquisition of Eurocom Group. The decision has been taken because of the latest dispute regarding the composition of the Bezeq Israeli Telecommunication Co. Ltd. (TASE: BEZQ) board of directors, the arguments over income tax and the cut in the rating for the bonds of Spacecom Satellite Communications Ltd. (TASE:SCC). It remains unclear whether Saidoff really plans going through with the cancelation of the deal or whether or it is brinkmanship. The matter will only be cleared up when he presents his arguments to the court. Eurocom is the controlling shareholder of Bezeq.

For the time being, Saidoff is demanding the return of his NIS 50 million deposit because the conditions for his acquisition of Bezeq's parent company have not been met.

It became apparent last week that the deal was tottering following changes on the board of directors that demonstrated that Bezeq is not completely able to control who sits on its board. After a compromise was reached between Bezeq controlling shareholder B Communications Ltd. (Nasdaq:BCOM; TASE: BCOM) and Bezeq's interim chairman David Granot, which permitted B Communications to influence the choice of directors, Saidoff's representatives made their dissatisfaction clear and that the compromise was a poke in the eye for them.

In addition, the Israel Income Tax authority has announced that it opposes the creditors deal with Eurocom because of a separate tax debt of NIS 7.8 million, which Eurocom is not prepared to settle separately from the creditor's settlement. A third reason for Saidoff's withdrawal is the cut in the rating of Spacecom's bonds.

Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on March 11, 2018

© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2018

Naty Saidoff  photo: Avi Shauly
Naty Saidoff photo: Avi Shauly
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