Dankner Loses IDB in Bondholder Voting

YERUSHALAYIM

Israeli tycoon Nochi Dankner lost his protracted struggle to retain control of IDB Holding Corp. on Sunday when bondholders voted overwhelmingly for the Eduardo Elsztain-Motti Ben-Moshe consortium, Globes reported.

The consortium won over 75 percent of the bondholders’ support in the second round of voting on Sunday evening. In the first round, Dankner received 35 percent of the votes, with Bank Leumi, a major investor in IDB, abstaining. In the second round, Leumi threw its weight behind Elsztain-Ben-Moshe, sealing their takeover.

However, Dankner is reportedly planning to continue the fight, mounting legal action to challenge the validity of the vote. His legal team, led by Adv. Ram Caspi, is already formulating objections to the consortium’s bid, which is to be filed with the court on Wednesday.

Earlier on Sunday, Bank Leumi issued a statement presaging the Elsztain victory. “Bank Leumi’s board of directors decided to abstain in tonight’s vote on the two bids for the acquisition of IDB Holding,” said the bank in a statement.

“In its vote, Bank Leumi expresses its dissatisfaction with the two bids submitted by the two consortia. However, Bank Leumi believes that a quick solution should be drawn up and a settlement reached for the creditors of IDB Holding and IDB Development, and it will therefore support in its second vote, if there is one, the bid that will win the most votes in the first vote.”

The IDB bondholders included Gilad Pension Fund, Excellence Investments, Psagot Investment House, Harel Insurance Investments and Financial Services Ltd., and Meitav DS Holdings, along with private bondholders represented by Ohad Aloni and Keren Brosh.

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