Israel Petrochemical Enterprises to sell 45% stake in Avgol

Jerusalem (Platts)--30Aug2012/846 am EDT/1246 GMT


The board of directors of Israel Petrochemical Enterprises Ltd has approved the sale of a 45% stake in its Avgol Ltd subsidiary to London-based private equity company Ethemba for $106.8 million, the company said late Wednesday.

An additional $16 million payment has been agreed to by the parties dependent on 2013 results. Following the sale IPE will control 21% and the remainder is traded on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange.

Avgol is a leading global producer of non woven fabrics for the hygiene industry with manufacturing facilities in Israel, China, Europe and the US.

The company is investing $71 million in new production lines in the US and China and has plans to expand into India.

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IPE, which owns a minority stake in Oil Refineries Ltd, decided on the sale in order to ease its $500 million debt burden to bondholders and local banks.

Avgol also reported its second quarter results on Wednesday, posting a 74% drop in net profit to $1.3 million from $5 million in the same quarter a year ago. Revenues rose to $80.2 million from $68 million in the second quarter of 2011.

--Neal Sandler, newsdesk@platts.com
--Edited by Jeremy Lovell, jeremy_lovell@platts.com