Bezeq shares surge as industrialist offers to buy stake in parent company
Gad Zeevi, who failed to buy Bezeq control some 20 years ago, is seeking to buy 100% of shares of Internet Gold for $84 million
Shoshanna Solomon was The Times of Israel's Startups and Business reporter
Israeli businessman Gad Zeevi has offered to buy a controlling stake in the parent company of Bezeq Israel Telecom, the nation’s largest telecommunication provider, for NIS 300 million ($84 million), according to a filing with the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange.
In the filing late Monday, the law firm of Shimonov & Co., said in a letter to the CEO of Internet Gold – Golden Lines Ltd. that a firm fully owned by his client Zeevi is offering to buy all of the shares of Internet Gold. Internet Gold holds a majority stake in B Communications Ltd., whose only asset is a 26.34 percent controlling stake in Bezeq.
Bezeq’s shares were trading 10 percent higher at 2.55 p.m. in Tel Aviv. The telecommunication firm’s shares have plummeted some 35 percent in the past 12 months as the firm has been grappling with increased competition in all of its businesses, and its former controlling shareholder Shaul Elovitch has been embroiled in an alleged corruption case regarding his relations with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Internet Gold has been under bondholder pressure to sell its stake in B Communications. The money from Zeevi will go toward paying B Communications bondholders and raising capital for B Communications, Calcalist financial website said.
Zeevi, who some 20 years ago had made a bid to buy control of Bezeq, has demanded an answer from the Internet Gold board within seven days of the proposal. If initial approval is given, the parties will then proceed with negotiations about the details of the bid. Final approval will be in May, according to the filing.
