Hapoalim raises NIS 900m in deposits from institutions

Arik Pinto  photo: Tamar Matsafi
Arik Pinto photo: Tamar Matsafi

For a year now, Bank Hapoalim has been raising capital privately, avoiding the need to publish a prospectus.

Bank Hapoalim (TASE: POLI) recently completed the raising of NIS 900 million in deposits from financial institutions, "Globes" has learned. The deposits were raised at a margin of 0.9% above the equivalent government bond. This is an attractive return for investors given the bank's high credit rating and financial strength, and it is due to the fact that no marketable security is involved.

The bank, headed by CEO Arik Pinto, regularly seeks deposits from financial institutions, but this time it was a coordinated move involving several institutions and a large sum. The financing was led by Leader Capital Markets.

For at least a year, Bank Hapoalim has been raising capital privately, which avoids the need for a prospectus, and also allows flexibility and speed. Last year, Bank Hapoalim planned to raise over NIS 3 billion through a public offering of both regular and CoCo (contingent convertible) bonds, which include a mechanism for absorbing losses in a crisis scenario. In the end, however, the bank decided to halt the offering, as it was a stormy period for it, during which then chairman Yair Seroussi resigned against the background of a complaint of sexual assault against former Bank Hapoalim CEO Zion Kenan. Although the storm has passed, the debt offering process has not been renewed. The assessment on the capital market is that the reason for this is that the bank has a surplus of tier 1 capital.

Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on September 19, 2017

© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2017

Arik Pinto  photo: Tamar Matsafi
Arik Pinto photo: Tamar Matsafi
Twitter Facebook Linkedin RSS Newsletters גלובס Israel Business Conference 2018