Gaydamak in negotiations to take control of Atlas Estate Ltd

After acquiring control over Ocif Investments, Israeli-Russian billionaire has his eyes on another real estate company, seeking to acquire 18% of Atlas Estates for 65 million euros

Golan Hazani|Published: 09.25.07 , 11:04

After gaining control over the Ocif Investments real esate firm, Israeli-Russian businessman Arcadi Gaydamak is now in talks with Gadi and Dror Danker for the acquisition of 18% of the shares of Atlas Estates Ltd., which is currently controlled by Elran Real Estate, Yedioth Ahronoth had learned.

Atlas is listed at a value of 307 million euros on the AIM of the London Stock Exchange and is considered one of the most valuable stocks issued there. Since the issuing of the stock in February 2006, its value has risen nearly 30%.

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Gaydamak seeks to acquire shares of Atlas at the price of 7 euros per share, a price 10% higher than the market value. The entire deal is worth an estimated 65 million euros.

Elran Real Estate is under the combined leadership of Gadi and Dror Danker and the Markstone fund which recently acquired 20% of the company for 65 million shekels. Atlas is also controlled by the British investment firm RP Capital as well as another investment firm under the leadership of real estate mogul Roni Yitzhaki.

The most prominent possession of Atlas Estate Limited in Poland is the Warsaw Hilton that opened this April and received better than predicted earnings. Additional properties include the two platinum towers next to the hotel that hold 380 apartments as well as properties in Hungary, Romania, and Slovakia.

On Monday, Atlas reported a net profit of 27.7 million euros for the first half of 2007. This comes after a loss of 10.6 million euros for the same period in 2006. The value of the company's holdings in Eastern Europe grew by an estimated 56% since the end of last year and reached a total of 513 million euros by the end of June of this month.