Scailex Corporation (TASE: SCIX; Pink Sheets:SCIXF), controlled by Ilan Ben Dov, continues to make news almost daily. Today, the company, which controls Orange franchisee Partner Communications Ltd. (Nasdaq: PTNR; TASE: PTNR), issued two notices to the TASE: one about improved salary terms for CEO Yahel Shachar; and the other about the purchase of a property in Petah Tikva from its parent company, Suny Electronics Ltd. (TASE: SUNY).
Suny also announced a lien on additional Scailex shares in favor of Suny's bondholders.
Shachar will return to a full-time position at Scailex (after his position was reduced to 80% in February 2011), for an annual salary cost of NIS 1.67 million (NIS 140,000 a month).
Scailex also announced that it will buy a 2,400-square meter lot at 8 Harakevet Street in Petah Tikva's Segula industrial zone, occupied by the companies' offices and logistics center, for NIS 11.3 million. The price is 6% less than the assessment Suny recently obtained from an independent assessor. Scailex currently pays Suny NIS 150,000 rent a month on the property.
Suny announced that that it has attached almost five million additional Scailex shares to the holders of Suny's series A, B, and C bonds (which total NIS 248 million). This means that there are liens on all of Suny's 21.9 million Scailex shares, which are currently worth NIS 342 million.
The additional lien was made because of the fall in the debt-to-collateral ratio set in the trustee note of Suny's bonds. Scailex's share price has fallen 48% since August 2011 (the last time a lien was placed on the shares), and 80% since the beginning of the year.
Scailex's challenging conditions are behind the fall in its share price. Its liabilities totaled NIS 3.1 billion at the end of September, including NIS 2 billion to its bondholders. Last week, Midroog Ltd. and Standard & Poor's Maalot Ltd. downgraded the bonds one notch to Baa1 and BBB, respectively, and reiterated their "Negative" outlooks.
Scailex's share price rose 4.6% today to NIS 16.26, giving a market cap of NIS 434 million, and Suny's share price rose 1.8% to NIS 7.92, giving a market cap of NIS 240 million.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on December 22, 2011
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