Israel's Ofer family agreed to divide its assets in Mizrahi Tefahot Bank Ltd. and real estate firm Melisron Ltd. among its members to comply with the country's promotion of competition and reduction of concentration law, Globes reported March 18.
Siblings Liora Ofer and Doron Ofer, along with cousin Eyal Ofer, own a 22.5% stake in the bank and a 60.8% stake in the real estate firm through Ofer Investments and Ofer Holdings. Liora, who also is a director at Mizrahi Tefahot, signed an agreement in the week of March 12 to sell her shares in the lender to Eyal in exchange for shares in Melisron.
The Ofer family is said to have been moving quickly to reach agreements in recent months because one of the conditions for approval of Mizrahi Tefahot's acquisition of fellow lender Union Bank of Israel Ltd., reported by Reuters in November 2017, was that the company owners comply with the competition regulation prior to deal completion, the newspaper said.
