The battle for control of credit card company Isracard (TASE: ISCD) is hotting up. Two weeks after Menora Mivtachim (TASE: MMHD) made a fresh offer to Isracard’s management, digital insurance company WeSure Global Tech (TASE: WESR), headed by Nitzan Zeir Harim, has made an offer of its own. In a letter to Isracard chairperson Tamar Yassur and CEO Ran Oz, WeSure says that, following initial talks, "we propose to the Isracard board of directors, for the benefit of Isracard’s shareholders, that it should jointly examine the possibility of forming a controlling interest in Isracard." The proposal has a time limit of one month to mid-October, and Isracard is invited "to enter into a focused and intensive negotiation process."
WeSure proposes that it and its controlling shareholders should invest a sum in Isracard that will give them a 30% holding. Isracard currently has no controlling shareholder. The move will include an application for a permit for WeSure to control a credit card company.
WeSure has a market cap of NIS 360 million, whereas, at today’s opening on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, Isracard had a market cap of NIS 2.7 billion. The offer by Menora Mivtachim Holdings, which has a market cap of NIS 6.6 billion and is engaged in negotiations with Isracard, is estimated to be more than NIS 3 billion.
WeSure says that the initial talks included examining the possibility of strategic cooperation between the two sides, with WeSure also controlling insurance company Ayalon. "In the talks, various forms of joint activity started to be examined, including at the structural level, such as investment by Isracard in companies in the group, alongside WeSure Global Tech’s investment in Isracrad."
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on September 15, 2024.
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