Deal signed: Vishor to acquire 45% of Altshuler Shaham Finance for NIS 800 million

Vishor Globaltech is acquiring 45% of Altshuler Shaham Finance shares for NIS 800 million. The company's CEO, Yair Levinstein, will purchase an additional 10% for about NIS 180 million. Altshuler and Shaham will continue to manage the investment house's activities in areas other than provident funds.

The deal to sell control of Altshuler Shaham Finance was signed this morning. Vishor Globaltech, controlled by Emil Vinshel and Zvi Barak, will acquire 45% of Altshuler Shaham Finance shares from Altshuler Shaham Ltd., owned by Gilad Altshuler and Kalman Shaham, for NIS 800 million. Concurrently, the CEO of Altshuler Shaham Finance, Yair Levinstein, will purchase an additional 10% of the shares for about NIS 180 million. Altshuler and Shaham will continue to manage Altshuler Shaham Ltd., the company that holds the investment house's operations, and their activities will include areas other than provident funds. However, they are parting with control of the company that centralizes most of Altshuler Shaham's activity in terms of managed assets. Altshuler Shaham Finance is currently traded at a value of about NIS 1.2 billion. Altshuler Shaham Finance will become a subsidiary of Vishor, alongside another subsidiary, Ayalon, which operates in the insurance sector. Thus, Vishor will have two arms – finance and insurance. Ayalon entered the provident fund field last July and raised just over NIS 1 billion. Altshuler Shaham Finance manages NIS 112 billion, and it is unclear whether the two companies will continue to manage provident fund activities in parallel. Vishor is held by Emil Vinshel, who also serves as chairman and holds 29% of the shares, worth NIS 706 million, and by Caesarea Holdings of Zvi Barak, which holds 28.4%, worth NIS 687 million. Vishor's main holding is in the insurance company Ayalon (70%), while Vishor's own business, in the digital insurance field, constitutes 15% of the group's activity.