Israel Chemicals renews salt harvesting talks

ICL Fertilizers CEO Dani Chen: We want a compromise with the government about the Dead Sea issue.

Following a meeting today between Minister of Finance Yuval Steinitz and Israel Corp chairman Amir Elstein, Israel Chemicals Ltd. (TASE: ICL) decided to renew and accelerate negotiations with the Ministry of Finance. "We are striving together to reach an agreed-upon solution to the complex issues at hand," said Israel Chemicals.

Israel Chemicals believes that it is possible to reach an agreement about Israel Chemicals' portion of costs for the salt harvesting at the southern basin of the Dead Sea, and other issues.

"Israel Chemicals' opinion is similar to that of Minister of Finance Yuval Steinitz: the solution needs to express the public's interest. We must understand Israel Chemicals' significance, and its large contribution to state revenue, mainly for Negev residents, as well as for pension savings for all Israelis," said Israel Chemicals.

ICL Fertilizers (Dead Sea Works) CEO and president Dani Chen said, "We are interested in reaching an agreed-upon compromise with the government over the Dead Sea. Israel Chemicals has acted responsibly from the beginning, and has supported finding a solution for fully harvesting the salt. We hope soon to be able to declare the good news to the Negev residents and to all Israeli citizens. This project must be implemented as soon as possible since the pool that was built by Israel Chemicals 60 years ago is the base for a wide range of industry in the Negev, and all the Dead Sea area hotels sit along its coast."

Deputy Attorney General for Economics and Fiscal Affairs of Israel Avi Licht last week stated that Israel Chemicals should bear the largest portion of Dead Sea clean-up costs, and that excess-profit tax should be levied on the company to pay for it.

Licht believes that Israel Chemicals should provide most of the funding for the permanent solution to raising the water level, and the balance should come from the state, from the hotels in the area, as well as from the regional council. Licht also says that Israel Chemicals should be compelled to carry out the salt harvesting through legislation, if the arbitration with the company fails, since it is of great benefit to Israel Chemicals, estimated to be at least NIS 2.5 billion.

Israel Chemicals' share price fell 1.7% by midday to $43.07 giving a market cap of NIS 55.6 billion.

Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on September 11, 2011

© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2011

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