El Al battle heats up between directors, prospective buyers
The government initially offered to back $250 million in bank loans in exchange for El Al issuing $150 million in shares, which the state will buy if no one else does in a public offering.
By JERUSALEM POST STAFFEl Al plane(photo credit: ERIC GAILLARD/REUTERS)
Tension is growing between the board of directors of El Al and one of the company’s prospective buyers, the Rozenberg family.Officially, while Eli Rozenberg, a yeshiva student in his 20s has submitted an offer to purchase the national carrier; his father Kenny Rozenberg is said to be behind the purchase. The older Rozenberg is the founder and CEO of Centers Health Care. His son Eli has made a $100 million bid for 45% of the Israeli air company, which if accepted, would give him control of the airline.Last month, El Al asked the younger Rozenberg to provide more information about his relations with his father, after the company unveiled a previous lawsuit that it says calls into question the family’s business ethics.Specifically, El Al’s lawyer, Avigdor Klagsbald, requested from Rozenberg’s lawyer, Adi Zaltzman, that he provide further information about the relations between the father and son, as well as details concerning the 2018 settlement agreement between the state of New York and Centers Plan for Healthy Living (CPHL), a New York-based nursing home chain owned by the elder Rozenberg.CPHL agreed to pay $1.65m. to US authorities after it was alleged that it had filed false claims to defraud the state. This news was reported by the Buffalo Business First news site.In addition, in 2019, Becker’s Hospital Review reported that the US government’s Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services had ranked Centers Plan for Healthy Living with low-star ratings and at the time issued a warning for their quality performance.Meanwhile, on Sunday, the Treasury was scheduled to roll out a new aid plan for the airline, which was hit hard by the novel coronavirus outbreak and has been in advanced negotiations for a government bailout since the beginning of the health crisis in order to avoid bankruptcy.The government initially offered to back $250m. in bank loans in exchange for El Al issuing $150m. in shares, which the state will buy – if no one else does – in a public offering.Last week, Rozenberg added US President Donald Trump’s former Mideast envoy Jason Greenblatt to his team of advisers and has reportedly said that he would like the former US government official to serve as his representative on the airline’s board if his purchase goes through.
