Sources inform ''Globes'' that Habas HZ Investments Ltd. (TASE: HABS) is in preliminary talks to buy the old Assuta hospital compound on Jabotinsky Street in north Tel Aviv from Ha'Ir Hahadasha (New City) Group, owned by Dror Halevy and Raviv Zoller. New City bought an option to acquire the site from Shaya Boymelgreen's Boymelgreen Capital Ltd. (TASE:BMGN) and Lamdan Holdings Ltd. in 2009.
The negotiations are reportedly over the price that Habas will pay New City for the buyers group that it will bring to the project. If a deal is reached, the project will become a regular development for all intents and purposes. Instead of jointly buying the land and developing it, the members of the buyers group will buy the finished product - the apartments.
The buyers group includes Minister of Defense Ehud Barak, Bank Leumi president and CEO Galia Maor, Mizrahi Tefahot Bank CEO Eli Yones, Adv. Israel Kantor, and Adv. Dalia Tal, two of Israel's top lawyers.
If Habas buys the lot, the apartment prices will presumably go up, as the company specializes in luxury residential projects.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on May 26, 2010
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2010