Israeli Regulator Stalls Tel Aviv Stock Exchange Sale

In a letter to Tel Aviv Stock Exchange CEO Ittai Ben-Zeev, regulator Anat Guetta said she requires more time before she can approve the sale of the exchange to Australian firm Manikay Partners LLC and additional buyers.

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In April, the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange board of directors approved the sale of a 71.7% stake in the exchange. As part of the deal, Manikay is set to acquire a 20% stake, while a group of five international investors will acquire 51.8%. Of the stake acquired by the unnamed investors, 30% will be eventually offered in direct placement to the public.

The sale was the initiative of Mr. Ben-Zeev, following a 2017 amendment of Israel’s securities law that forbids members of the exchange to own a stake larger than 5%.

In her letter, Ms. Guetta said she will examine and individually approve each of the additional buyers involved in the deal before it is put forward. In response, Mr. Ben-Zeev has filed for an extension on the deal from participating banks and investment firms through the end of August.

In a statement, the Israel securities authority said that it will continue to promote the structural change to the exchange and that the examination of the buyers must be thorough. Speaking on Wednesday at Calcalist’s capital markets conference in Tel Aviv, Mr. Ben-Zeev said that the deal will be completed by the end of the year.

Last month, in a letter reviewed by Calcalist, Mr. Ben-Zeev said that the sale of the exchange is facing opposition from Israel’s Bank Hapoalim.