Rozenberg is offering $75 million for a 45% stake in the financially troubled airline.

The board of directors of El Al Israel Airlines Ltd. (TASE: ELAL) has received an official bid from Eli Rozenberg to acquire the company. Eli Rozenberg, 30, is an Israeli resident and the son of US businessman Kenny Rozenberg, the New York-based owner of the Centers Heath Care US nationwide chain of nursing homes.

According to the Israeli government’s golden-share in the privately-owned national flag carrier, the controlling shareholder must hold Israeli citizenship and be resident in the country. Rozenberg is in the process of receiving a permit to the control the airline from the Government Companies Authority.

Eli Rozenberg has bid $75 million for a 45% stake in El Al through an Israeli company that he owns. Rozenberg is prepared to make an immediate acquisition, before the government implements its plan to hold a public offering for El Al, as agreed by the board of directors, in which the government has committed to buy all its shares in the airline, which is on the brink of insolvency due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

To show his seriousness, Rozenberg has opened a trustee’s account at Mizrahi Tefahot Bank (TASE:MZTF) and deposited $15 million, 20% of the planned investment.

El Al’s board of directors reacted positively to the bid saying, “We think that all the parties connected to El Al have a major interest in implementing the deal because this deal is ‘the order of the hour’ in the current circumstances in the present circumstances and due to the real danger confronting El Al.”

El Al’s board also stressed that the bid would immediately improve El Al’s capital structure and allow for an immediate injection of capital. “It should be mentioned that the investor has examined the situation of El Al, which is in a challenging situation”

The bid is valid until August 2020.

(Globes).