"For temporary personal and health reasons, Akiva Mozes will step down as chairman of Oil Refineries," announced Oil Refineries Ltd. (TASE:ORL) in a notice to the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE) on Friday. Deputy chairman David Federman, who has held the post for six years, will assume Akiva's post.
Federman is a controlling shareholder in Israel Petrochemical Enterprises Ltd. (TASE:PTCH), which owns 30.7% of Oil Refineries, and which is now in the hands of its bondholders.
Israel Corporation (TASE: ILCO) CEO Nir Gilad will assume Mozes's position on Oil Refineries' board of directors. Israel Corp. owns 37.1% of Oil Refineries.
Mozes was appointed chairman of Oil Refineries in September 2012 in a two-thirds position, after serving a successful tenure of 13 years as CEO of Israel Chemicals Ltd. (TASE: ICL), which Israel Corp. also controls.
Since taking the reins at Oil Refineries, Mozes has been unable to halt the slide the company's business, which began before his appointment. Low refining margins have prevented the company from reducing its large financial debt due to heavy investments, especially in the hydrocracking facility. As a consequence, the company has been forced to seek a capital injection through a $150 million rights issue in order to pay its debts. The rights issue is scheduled to take place in two months, as part of streamlining measures that include layoffs, which the company estimates will save $100 million in operating costs in 2014.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on October 27, 2013
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