Because of its challenging financial position and its failure to sell the 8 Center mall in Kiryat Shemona, real estate company Edri-El Holdings Ltd. (TASE: EDRL), which is controlled by its CEO Gabi Edri, has notified the trustee of its B series bond that it will not meet the final payment, amounting to NIS 100 million, due at the end of this month. The due date had already been postponed from July 10.
Edri-El, which is mainly active in the north of Israel, had eight properties at the end of March, with close to 13,000 square meters of office and commercial space, plus 24,000 square meters of industrial space, at the Gibor Sport site in Kiryat Shemona. Between 2012 and 2016 the company sold several assets with the aim of strengthening its liquidity and its financial position, but these measures have apparently been insufficient to enable it to meet the bond repayment.
The company had a going concern qualification on its financial statements for the first quarter of 2017. In its 2016 report the company said it was trying to sell the Kiryat Shemona mall, valued on its balance sheet at NIS 107 million, but in April it became known that negotiations with Israel Land Development Insurance had stalled and there has been no further report of progress on a sale.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on July 25, 2017
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