China seeks Bank Hapoalim takeover
Financiers representing Chinese government, U.S billionaire Leon Charney visit Israel; attorney representing investment group meets with Finance Ministry accountant-general; two major American stockholders sell off shares
TEL AVIV - An investment bank representing the Chinese government and a group of Chinese businessmen are vying for control over Bank Hapoalim.
The “Chinese Group,” which also consist of Jewish-American billionaire Leon Charney and a British real-estate entrepreneur, is represented by Attorney Yaakov Weinroth, who met with the Chinese financiers in Israel earlier this week.
On Tuesday Weinroth and Charney met with Finance Ministry Accountant-General Yaron Zalicha, Yedioth Ahronoth reported.
Chinese companies, seeking to flex economic muscle, are increasingly active in global acquisitions. Currently, the Chinese government-backed oil company CNOOC is making a hostile bid for U.S. oil firm Unocal. The threat of Chinese ownership of what some consider a strategic U.S. asset, an oil company, has led the U.S. Congress to call for a review of the deal that could delay the possible takeover by many months.
On the banking front, The New York Times has reported that Royal Bank of Scotland, one of the world's biggest banks, is considering investing about USD 2.5 billion to acquire a stake in the Bank of China.
Citing a person briefed on the discussions, the Times said the investment would be one of the largest foreign investments ever in a Chinese bank. It would be the latest in a series of overseas investments in what the Times called "the troubled but potentially lucrative state-owned sector."
'Recent events in Israel worry us'
On Wednesday, American stockholders in Bank Hapoalim, Scot Shay and Lou Ranieri, sold off their shares.
Hyperion Fund, owned by Shay and Ranieri, owned 2.3 percent of the bank's shares, which they sold for USD 90 million.
Sources close to the two said the sale was a response to the passing of the Bachar Reform, which forces banks to sell of their holdings in firms that manage trust and providence funds.
Lou Ranieri arrived in Israel a year ago, around the time the recommendation of the Bachar Committee for reforming the financial markets were made, and opposed the intent of regulators to get involved in banking activities.
"If Israel passes a law that forces banks to give up providence funds, it will be seen as the expropriation of private property," Ranieri said at the time.
Ranieri also said, "That recent of events in the country worry us, American investors, very much. It's causing us to wonder if the government is changing its policy and no longer works as a Western state with a free market."
