Menora Mivtachim joins race to buy Isracard

Menora Mivtachim Holdings Ltd. (TASE: MMHD) has notified the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE) that it has bid to buy the controlling core (32%) of credit card company Isracard (TASE: ISCD). The offer to purchase reflects a company valuation for Isracard of NIS 3.072 billion and is a 31.5% premium on the credit card company’s closing price on Thursday.

This is a higher offer than the bid of Harel Insurance Investment and Finance Services (TASE: HARL), which last month bid to buy a 100% stake in Isracard at a company valuation of NIS 2.72 billion.

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The structure of Menora Mivtachim’s bid would keep Isracard, headed by CEO Ran Oz, as an independent publicly-traded company, and provides shareholders with higher value for their holdings while allowing them to continue to participate in the growth potential of the company and its activities, which could be a major advantage from their point of view.

Menora Mivtachim Holdings CEO Ari Kalman said, “Menora Mivtachim sees the field of credit as an ancillary and complementary field to the group’s activities, and our proposal is an expression of confidence in the Isracard company, its management and its employees. We are sure that the strengths of the Menora Mivtachim Group together with the strengths of Isracard, while keeping it as a public and independent company, will constitute a winning combination that will bring value to the shareholders of Isracard and Menora Mivtachim.”

Published by Globes, Israel business news – en.globes.co.il – on February 5, 2023.

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