Tel Aviv District Court President Judge Eitan Orenstein today ruled that Eliezer Fishman's 74.68% stake in Monitin, the company that owns "Globes, would be sold to Ilcorp, an Alona Bar-On family company, for NIS 106 million.
The judge preferred Bar-On's bid to that of Russian-Jewish businessman David Davidovich.
The ruling means that Bar-On will become the sole shareholder in "Globes," making her the first woman ever to own a major media outlet in Israel.
"I approve the agreement between the receivers for all the shares in Monitin, meaning 74.68% under the Ilcorp agreement, and to act according to its provisions," the judge ruled. He instructed the receivers, Advocates Eyal Rosovsky and Ronen Matry, to report to the court as necessary on their progress in implementing the agreement, and no later than April 15, 2017.
In his decision to endorse the agreement between the receivers and the Bar-On family, following a mediation procedure conducted by District Court Judge (ret.) Hila Gerstel, Orenstein wrote, "Among my considerations was the rule that the Court should not lightly intervene in the position of an officer of the Court, and in my opinion, there are no grounds for doing so. No fault can be found with the receivers, who have done a great deal to increase the proceeds, and have obtained extensive support from all of the parties, including a range of officers of the Court in the Ilcorp agreement and most of the creditors. The advantage of this is that there will be a single group of shareholders, compared with the alternative of two shareholders, which would have been the case had Davidovich's bid been accepted."
The judge also wrote that his ruling was designed to prevent "the continuation of the disputes that will make the company's situation worse, with concern about damage to the newspaper's business and the livelihood of hundreds of employees."
Published by Globes [online], Israel Business News - www.globes-online.com - on March 14, 2017
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