Court grants Heftsiba bankruptcy
Financially troubled construction company asks court for 30 days to present a recovery plan
The Jerusalem Magistrates Court on Sunday night granted temporary bankruptcy status to the financially troubled Heftsiba construction firm, and ordered its management to draft a recovery plan.
The court froze all of Heftsiba's assets. On Thursday, the court will hear the petition of the company's customers requesting the appointment of a temporary liquidator for four of the group's companies to take over the group's housing project in the Har Homa neighborhood of Jerusalem.
The customers expressed concern for their investments, and over the weekend dozens broke into the project for fear of losing their new homes.
Heftsiba representatives asked the court to grant their client 30 days to present a recovery plan.
The court heard that SIG, a property development firm, offered to purchase Heftsiba. Another two unnamed companies have also bid for Heftsiba.
The court rejected demands by Bank Hapoalim, Discount Mortgages and Bank of Jerusalem to be given access to Heftsiba assets as the company's lenders and to appoint a treasurer to manage the assets.
The court also heard that Heftsiba had accumulated debts of NIS 1.6 billion (about $370 million), NIS 818 million ($189 million) of which are bank loans.
Neema Sikuler and Efrat Weiss contributed to this report
