Meitav Dash Investments Ltd. (TASE:MTDS) is continuing the expansion of its brokerage business by acquiring the customer portfolios of Bank of Jerusalem (TASE: JBNK)( for NIS 21 million. Portfolios of both independent private customers and institutions were sold.
The investment house is acquiring the portfolios through Meitav Dash Trade and Meitav Dash Brokerage. The Bank of Jerusalem expects to post a NIS 20 million pre-tax capital gain on the sale. Although the bank is in effect selling its brokerage activity, it is retaining a Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE) member and its holdings in TASE shares when the TASE becomes an "ordinary" company.
In late 2013, the Bank of Jerusalem took over Clal Finance Batucha Brokerage, the brokerage business of Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd. (TASE: CLIS), a former market leader that suffered business reverses. The Bank of Jerusalem also acquired the activity of Clal Finance Batucha's TASE member, in addition to the TASE member it already owned, and merged the two.
Meitav Dash, managed by CEO Ilan Raviv, is making its fifth brokerage acquisition. Meitav Dash's TASE member is actually a combination of several TASE members merged over the years.
Bank of Jerusalem's sale of its brokerage portfolios is part of the strategy led by Gill Topaz, the bank's CEO, over the past two years. Israel's seventh largest bank, Bank of Jerusalem suffers from the disadvantages of its small size. Topaz says, "The strategy of specialization and focus will enable us to concentrate on our core business and achieve a long-term competitive advantage."
Published by Globes [online], Israel Business News - www.globes-online.com - on October 16, 2017
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