The Rimonim hotel chain, a subsidiary of Israel Land Development Company (TASE: ILDC), has submitted a bid to acquire the Princess Hotel in Eilat.
Rimonim today announced that it had submitted the bid following a solicitation for bids published by Adv. Lipa Meir, the receiver appointed by the Beer Sheva District Court for the hotel at the request of Bank Hapoalim (TASE: POLI). The hotel, owned by Lexan Israel, has been managed since May 2011 by the Isrotel Ltd. (TASE: ISRO) hotel chain, and has 400 employees. Isrotel will wind up its management of the hotel in November 2015, due to opposition from the Antitrust Authority.
In May 2012, outgoing Antitrust Authority director general Prof. David Gilo announced his opposition to a merger between Isrotel and the Princess Hotel, saying, "The merger increases both the market share of Isrotel and the aggregate market share of Isrotel and Fattal Hotel Management Ltd. among the highly-rated hotels in the Eilat area. Growth in market share raises concern about significant damane to competition."
Following this decision, Isrotel, which was slated to complete the contract for management of the Princess Hotel this month, began to summon the hotel's 400 employees for a pre-layoff hearing.
The Knesset Economic Affairs Committee recently discussed the hotel's closure and the hundreds of layoffs among its workers. "Firing 400 workers because of a dispute between regulators is a scandal," MK Nava Boker said at the end of the discussion.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on August 26, 2015
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