Wednesday, October 14, 4 pm, Tel Aviv, the Millennium Tower, the offices of Israel Corp. The time and place of next week's big story, in which Idan Ofer tries to make Israel Corp. ride to the rescue of Zim, and essentially to the rescue of the ramified connections with Zim of the private companies he owns. It's a big, $450 million story. We are happy that at least Ofer realized that the move to transfer Zim in the future to his own private hands (as described here two weeks ago) at the expense of Israel Corp.'s bondholders and share holders, smelt bad and that he had to pull back from it. But the big question remains: Why should Israel Corp. throw $450 million Zim's way? Doesn't it have better things to do with the money, and in any case why is it necessary to preserve the not very clear ties between Israel Corp. and Zim on the one hand and the Ofer family on the other?
Those who have to confront Ofer and tell him he's gone far enough are Galia Maor, CEO of Bank Leumi, which owns 18% of Israel Corp., and Psagot CEO Roy Vermus, who has positioned himself as the investors' Robin Hood. So what do you say, Galia and Roy? Have you the courage to overcome the unpleasantness and tell Ofer to take Zim to his private bosom?
Yesterday, we were astonished to learn that Yossi Bachar had become an expert on the shipping industry and had justified, through a written opinion, the huge injection into Zim. I don't intend, God forbid, to cast doubt on Bachar's intellectual honesty, but I insist on reminding readers that the way to any opinion, as professional and honest as it may be, goes via the bank account of the person who writes it. So what do you say, Yossi? Will you reveal to us how much Israel Corp. paid for this opinion?
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes.co.il - on October 8, 2009
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2009