Scitex (SCIX)

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Discount, Clal to sell Scailex stakes for $165 mln

Mon May 29, 2006 5:23 AM ET

TEL AVIV, May 29 (Reuters) - Israel's Discount Investment Corp. (DISI.TA: Quote, Profile, Research) and Clal Industries and Investments (CII.TA: Quote, Profile, Research) said on Monday they would sell their holdings in Scailex Corp. (SCIX.O: Quote, Profile, Research), formerly Scitex Corp., for $165 million, or $8.776 a share.

In a statement to the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange the companies said they had agreed to sell their stakes to holding company Israel Petrochemical Enterprises Ltd. (PTCH.TA: Quote, Profile, Research).

Discount, Clal to sell Scailex stakes for $165 mln
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Scailex shares closed at $6.46 on the Nasdaq on Friday. Its Tel Aviv-traded shares (SCIX.TA: Quote, Profile, Research) were up 7.3 percent at 30.50 shekels ($6.77) on Monday.

Discount Investment, which has a 24.54 percent stake in Scailex, will get $82 million from the deal and post a capital gain of 34 million shekels ($7.56 million), the company said.

Clal, which holds a 24.85 percent stake in the company, will get $83 million from the sale and post a capital gain of 66 million shekels.

The deal is subject to regulatory approvals. If these are not obtained by August 28, the deal will be cancelled, the companies said.

The final price of the deal is subject to specific conditions depending on the future performance of Scailex's units.

Discount and Clal are both subsidiaries of IDB Development Corp. (IDBD.TA: Quote, Profile, Research), one of Israel's leading holding companies.

http://yahoo.reuters.com/stocks/quotecompanynewsarticle.aspx?storyId=urn:newsml:reuters.com:20060529....

Petrochemical Industries buys Scailex from IDB

29.5.06 | 11:24 By Shlomy Golovinski
Much speculation has raged about Scailex Corporation (Nasdaq: SCIX), the Israeli company formerly known as Scitex. Now the rumor mill can take a rest: the IDB group has sold the company, which is devoid of assets except for its fat kitty, to Israel Petrochemical Enterprises (TASE: target="_blank"PTCH).

IDB owned its shares in Scailex through Discount Investment Corporation (TASE: DISI) and Clal Industries and Investments (TASE: CII), which each sold 24.5% to Petrochemical for a combined $165 million.

The deal prices Scailex at $8.77 per share, compared with its opening price of $6.46 on Nasdaq.

Discount Investment and Clal will each be booking an NIS 34 million profit from the exit.

Scailex had sold its core Scitex operations and remains with $245 million in cash and little else. Recently the company named Arie Mientkavich as its chairman.

Israel Petrochemical Enterprises is controlled by David Federman, and the Menatep group, owned in part by Russian oligarch Leonid Nevzlin, and others. The company owns half of Carmel Olefins (Oil Refineries owns the other half).

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/721004.html

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