Keidan Dahari and Yaron Adiv, the controlling shareholders in income-producing real estate company Tnuport (1990) Ltd. (TASE:TNUP), are negotiating with Israel Discount Bank (TASE: DSCT) to buy 55% of Beit Eurocom in Ramat Gan for NIS 65 million (at a value of NIS 118 million for the entire property), sources inform "Globes." The parties have already exchanged draft agreements in the matter. Other parties are interested in the property, but Dahari and Adiv have reached a more advanced stage. Dahari and Adiv were recently mentioned as being interested in acquiring the Eurocom group's main asset - Bezeq Israeli Telecommunication Co. Ltd. (TASE: BEZQ) controlling shareholder Internet Gold Golden Lines Ltd. (Nasdaq: IGLD; TASE:IGLD). They filed a bid for the shares with the Eurocom group's creditor banks several weeks ago.
The Beit Eurocom office building currently houses the Eurocom group's headquarters The four-storey building covers over two dunam (0.5 acres). The property has a considerable upside because it can be used for construction of an 60-storey office building with more than 30,000 square meters. Various private investors won the other 45% of the rights.
Discount Bank is the Eurocom group's largest creditor with a NIS 600,000 debt. Nearly three years ago, the bank reached agreements with the company, then controlled by Shaul Elovitch, providing for increased securities, in view of Eurocom's dire situation.
One of the main assets obtained by the bank was a holding in Beit Eurocom. At the time, the increased securities given to Discount Bank aroused the ire of Bank Hapoalim (TASE: POLI), the second largest creditor of the Eurocom group, which was also negotiating with Elovitch, but had not yet concluded an arrangement with him. Relations between the two banks in the case have been tense ever since, making an agreement to sell the entire group difficult to achieve.
Raised NIS 350 million in bonds in January
Dahari and Adiv acquired a controlling interest in Tnuport last year for NIS 160 million in the framework of the receivership for Eliezer Fishman. The acquisition was primarily through a loan from Klirmark Capital. Tnuport raised NIS 350 million in January in a TASE bond issue. Dahari and Adiv used NIS 140 million of this amount to repay the loan from Klirmark and the rest to repay loans to Tnuport from Bank Leumi (TASE: LUMI).
Dahari and Adiv made headlines a month ago shortly after Eurocom went into liquidation when they filed a bid to acquire Internet Gold for NIS 225 million, an upside mechanism, and an undertaking to participate in an offering of Internet Gold's rights. They competed for the acquisition against the Saidoff group, but the banks eventually decided that the bids were not attractive enough and it was better to enter regular liquidation proceedings for Eurocom than to sell under pressure.
The banks have meanwhile begun selling off the Eurocom group's assets. The controlling interest in Enlight Renewable Energy Ltd. (TASE: ENLT) was recently sold on the market to investment institutions. Some of the group's operating companies' activity was also sold, and it now appears that the sale of Beit Eurocom is also nearing. At the same time, the company's two main assets - the controlling interests in Internet Gold and Spacecom - have not yet been sold. Negotiations for this purpose are still taking place, and the possibility of an official auction to sell them has not yet been ruled out.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on May 22, 2018
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