Supermarket and telecommunications tycoon Rami Levy is poised to purchase Israir Airlines, after his offer for the airline was accepted by a court-appointed trustee.
Israir’s parent company, the IDB group, was placed in receivership after it failed to cover mounting debts, with Psagot Investment House chief Ofir Naor placed in charge of managing IDB’s assets.
While Naor had received a number of offers for the airline, including one from a group of investors from the United Arab Emirates, bondholders have backed Levy’s offer, securing Naor’s support for the sale to Levy’s BGI Investments.
Levy and BGI initially offered 70 million shekels ($21.8 million), but has since raised its offer to 162 million shekels ($50.5 million), securing 51% of Israir’s shares.
As part of the new offer, BGI’s purchase of 51% of Israir will include a 24% share of stocks to be held personally by Levy, purchased directly by the businessman.
At a later stage, BGI will eventually take full ownership of Israir, buying out shares owned by Levy and others.
The previous bid under consideration was by businessman Yigal Dimri, who offered to buy 83% of Israir's stocks for 140 million shekels, with the company to be listed as a publicly traded company on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange within 18 months of the deal.