Nochi Dankner faces trouble on another front, after being notified that the IDB Development Corporation bondholders representative intend to petition the court within days to impose a debt settlement on the operational holding company of IDB Holding Corp. Ltd. (TASE:IDBH). If the court imposes a settlement on IDB Development, this will very probably cut the ground out from under the proposed debt settlement for IDB Holding.
The IDB Development bondholders representative - Psagot Investment House Ltd., The Phoenix Holdings Ltd. (TASE: PHOE1;PHOE5), and York Capital Management - has been saying for a long time that IDB Development is insolvent. The company counters that it can repay its debts and that the bondholders representative wants to take over its assets through an imposed settlement.
IDB Development owes NIS 6 billion, including NIS 4 billion to its bondholders and the rest to banks and two insurance companies against which there is collateral.
Yesterday, Bank Leumi (TASE: LUMI) announced that it was suspending a debt settlement with Ganden Investments Ltd., through which Dankner controls IDB until the Bank of Israel reviews the matter. The Bank of Israel intervened following the public furor in the media and on Facebook in response to the bank's intention to write off NIS 150 million of Ganden's debt.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on April 18, 2013
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