Aaron Frenkel breaks off Shufersal takeover talks

Aaron Frenkel has decided to break off talks on buying control of retail chain Shufersal. Talking to “Globes”, Frenkel said he had decided to withdraw from the move, because of disagreements among the financial institutions. “We need a positive consensus among everyone, and we want to run the company assertively, for the benefit of the company and the shareholders,” he said.

“It’s not a simple move. It means devoting large resources of time and energy, and an investment of about NIS 1.25 billion. For a process like that, you need the full backing of all the financial institutions, 75% of which respect us and are confident in us, but two (Migdal and Menorah), for reasons of their own, objected. After consultation, we have made a considered decision that we are not continuing with the talks, and we wish the company success.”

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Six financial institutions hold 60% of Shufersal. Five of them (Altshuler Shaham, Harel, The Phoenix Holdings, Menorah, and Clal Insurance) held negotiations with Frenkel on the sale of about a fifth of their holdings. Migdal is not a party to the negotiations and does not want to sell its shares, because it sees the proposed price in the deal (NIS 25 per share) as too low. Shufersal’s share price has risen by more than 10% in the past two weeks, and is now at around NIS 24, not far from the price at which the deal with Frenkel was to have taken place.

Published by Globes, Israel business news – en.globes.co.il – on November 10, 2022.

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