Nitzan Cohen
Barak Capital invested almost NIS 350 million, and even Altshuler Shaham took part.
The huge offering by Tamar Petroleum attracted great interest yesterday. Barak Capital invested almost NIS 350 million, an amazing sum considering that the largest institution that took part in the offering, Yelin Lapidot, invested about NIS 400 million. Another large institutional investor was Menorah Mivtachim, which invested about NIS 150 million.
Tamar Petroleum is special purpose vehicle set up by Delek through which to divest itself of its 31.3% stake in the Tamar gas reservoir as required under the antitrust agreement with the Israeli government.
Altshuler Shaham, which generally avoids such offerings or invests small amounts, invested some NIS 90 million yesterday. Altshuler Shaham's chief fund manager Dani Yardeni has been criticized in the financial press recently over money exiting the firm's mutual funds. Yardeni has taken a militant line against the wave of bond offerings in recent years, which he argues does not reflect the real risk and does not compensate for risk taking with adequate returns.
Heavy hitters Canaf, the investment wing of Clal Insurance, and Psagot were notable for their absence from the offering.
The Tamar offering is not a regular bond offering. The bond has received a high rating with substantial collateral. It will be interesting to see how investors behave in two weeks' time when the book opens for the company's equity offering.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - on July 6, 2017
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2017
