Chareidi businessman Hershey Friedman has acquired a controlling share
(64 percent) in real estate and construction company Azorim for NIS
300 million (about $83 million). Friedman overcame Eliezer Fishman's
Industrial Buildings Corporation (IBC) and Sari Arison's Housing and
Construction Real Estate, which also vied for the acquisition.
Azorim encountered severe cash-flow problems recently and was put up
for sale by its parent company's main creditor, Boymelgreen Capital
Bank Mizrahi-Tefahot, which it owed NIS 670 million ($185 million).
Azorim ended the first nine months of 2010 with a loss of NIS 102
million ($28), following an NIS 338 million ($93 million) loss in all
of 2009. The company's obligations come to NIS 3.6 billion ($995
million).
Bank Mizrahi-Tefahot is as happy as can be with the deal. "The
completion of the transaction and the transfer of ownership of Azorim
to the hands of businessman Hershey Friedman, one of the bank's top
customers, is good news for the company," said Mizrahi-Tefahot CEO Eli
Younes. "I have no doubt that Friedman and his managerial staff will
take the necessary steps to restore it to the standing it held just a
few years ago: Israel's largest and most successful residential real
estate company."
Younes says under the circumstances this is a good deal for the bank,
which is completing a long and complex process of involvement in the
matter, devoting considerable attention and valuable managerial
time.
