Dankner Fights for IDB Control

YERUSHALAYIM

Israeli tycoon Nochi Dankner was locked in a do-or-die struggle with bondholders to maintain control of his IDB Holding company, Globes reported on Sunday.

“The agreement between the bondholders’ representatives, which was signed in the dead of night, is a bad agreement, which includes a huge haircut for IDB Holding, and a totally unnecessary haircut for IDB Development,” Dankner said, after IDB bondholders and its subsidiary IDB Development combined to wrest ownership of the conglomerate away from him on Thursday night.

It’s the biggest trouble Dankner’s been in since IDB began foundering 18 months ago. But Dankner is not giving up. He says that he will continue to fight for the company, and plans to make an offer, probably within days, of an improved debt settlement to appease IDB Holding’s bondholders.

Dankner says that he intends, “to offer IDB Holding’s bondholders a better offer than the offer by the IDB Development bondholders representative, headed by York Capital Management, including an additional capital injection into the company.”

As for IDB Development, despite charges to the contrary, Dankner insists that the company is solvent and can meet its debts.

He added that measures will be taken very soon to improve the company’s financial situation: “We have measures in the works to merge Koor Industries with Discount Investment Corporation, which will inject NIS 450 million into the company; the sale of up to half of the stake in Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings, which will inject at least NIS 1.25 billion into IDB Development; and bringing in an equity investor to invest NIS 400 million in the company. These amounts are on top of the NIS 1.1 billion in deposits which IDB Development currently has.”

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