The IDB Holding Corp. Ltd. (TASE:IDBH) debt settlement may be in jeopardy, after Tel Aviv District Court Judge Eitan Orenstin called for an urgent hearing to find out whether it is possible to transfer the control license of IDB subsidiary Cellcom Israel Ltd. (NYSE:CEL; TASE:CEL).
"We will know how to answer this in a few days, but such a review can take months. The highest officials deal with this matter," the Ministry of Communications' attorney, Liav Weinbaum told Judge Orenstin.
"We're talking about NIS 8 billion of the public's money that is in the balance. You conduct could wreck the debt settlement. You should find a way to solve this matter quickly," replied IDB's court-appointed trustee Eyal Gabai. "It's unacceptable that, on one hand, the government sets up a committee deal with debt settlements, while not helping implement them on the other." He was referring to the Andorn Committee, chaired by Ministry of Finance director general Yael Andorn.
At that point, Judge Orenstin halted the hearing, and took the parties into his chambers. It appears that the matter has rattled Moti Ben-Moshe, one of IDB's two new controlling shareholders.
Orenstin called the hearing at the request of the trustees, Gabai and Adv. Hagai Ullman, who warned him that if the Ministry of Communications did not transfer Cellcom's control license to them by the middle of next week, this was liable to delay the debt settlement indefinitely, putting it in jeopardy.
The control permit from the Ministry of Communications is subject to a review of Ben-Moshe by the Israel Security Agency. Ben-Moshe's partner in IDB, Eduardo Elsztain, was already approved by Ministry of Communications, when he was a partner of IDB's former controlling shareholder, Nochi Dankner.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on March 26, 2014
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2014