Israel's Koor Sells Remaining Shares in Credit Suisse

   By Sara Toth Stub 
   Special to DOW JONES NEWSWIRES 
 

JERUSALEM--Koor Industries Ltd. (KOR.TV), a unit of Israeli conglomerate IDB Holding Corp.(IDBH.TV), said Thursday it has sold its remaining shares in Credit Suisse Group (CS), which it will partly use to pay off loans.

In August, IDB, Israel's largest conglomerate, said it would end its investment program in Credit Suisse in order to pay off its mounting debts.

Koor said it sold 3.68 million Credit Suisse shares on Thursday for 110.5 million Swiss francs ($121.6 million), which will boost its fourth-quarter net profit by 27 million shekels ($7.75 million). This follows Wednesday's sale of 4.9 million shares for $161 million.

Koor said it would use a total of about $98 million from the proceeds of Wednesday's and Thursday's sales to pay off loans to Citigroup and Morgan Stanley.

Other sales of Credit Suisse shares in the final three months of 2013 will add ILS35 million to Koor's fourth-quarter net profit.

At the peak of its investment in 2008, Koor owned more than 3% of Credit Suisse.

Koor's parent, IDB Holding, has run into financial trouble in the past few years as many of its investments sagged with the global economic downturn. It currently owes its bondholders about ILS1.7 billion and its bank debt stands at more than ILS300 million.

Due to the mounting debt situation and bondholders' requests, a Tel Aviv court recently approved a deal that would take control of IDB away from controlling shareholder and well-known Israeli businessman Nochi Dankner, granting some shares to bondholders, and the controlling stake to investors Eduardo Elsztain and Moti Ben-Moshe. Dankner is appealing the decision.

IDB has holdings and investment in the financial, real-estate, insurance and communications sectors.

At 0930 GMT, shares of Koor were up ILS0.62, or 0.86%, at ILS72.80, and shares of IDB were up up ILS0.039, or 6.51%, at ILS0.638, in a lower Tel Aviv market.

Write to Sara Toth Stub at [e-mail]

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