Sources inform “Globes” that Joseph (Yossi) Maiman, Shlomo Ben-Tzvi, and Ronald Lauder, owners of Channel 10 franchise holder Israel 10, are seeking another partner for their holdings in the channel. Recruiting another partner will dilute their holdings, which were set under the March agreement to sell Israel 10 shares to Ben-Tzvi and Lauder.
The main candidate to sell part of his stake is Ben-Tzvi, who owns 20%, and who is finding it difficult to inject the large investments required by the channel. Ben-Tzvi was probably counting on widespread cooperation between Channel 10 and Techelet, the Jewish content cable television channel, but this cooperation failed to materialize.
The Lauder-Ben-Tzvi deal was contracted at a $25 million value for the channel. Lauder and Ben-Tzvi invested $15 million for 60% of the shares: $10 million by Lauder, and $5 million by Ben-Tzvi.
Market sources believe that the Lauder-Ben-Tzvi group will not agree to surrender control of Israel 10, and will try to retain a 51% share. Israel 10’s owners have already contacted several leading companies in the industry, but so far have not achieved progress with any investor. No numbers of shares offered or values asked for them have been mentioned.
Negotiations thus far have been held with Taya Communications, controlled by Ami Giniger, but have yielded no agreement. Ben-Tzvi declined to respond, while no responses were available from Maiman and Lauder, as of web posting.
Taya Communications said in response, “No investment in Israel 10 is contemplated at present. Taya is concentrating on a possible partnership in Channel 2, through the acquisition or merger with one of the existing franchise holders, or by competing independently in the Channel 2 tender.”
Published by Globes [online] - www.globes.co.il - on June 6, 2004