Ownership battles at Maccabi Tel Aviv: This is the arbitrator who will try to decide between the sides
The rival parties in the control struggle at Maccabi Tel Aviv – Richard Deitch against the Rakanati family and Shimon Mizrahi – have agreed on the appointment of Dr. Israel Leshem as arbitrator. The arbitration will open next week and will decide the dispute over Rakanati's intention to sell 29% of the club's shares for $50 million to the Jason Levin group, amid a dispute over preemptive rights.
The rival parties in the control struggle at Maccabi Tel Aviv – Richard Deitch on one side, and the Rakanati family and Shimon Mizrahi on the other – have reached full agreement on the identity of the arbitrator who will decide the dispute: Dr. Israel (Rely) Leshem, one of the leading experts in commercial litigation in Israel. The arbitration process is expected to officially open next week. The appointment comes as a direct implementation of the decision by Tel Aviv Economic Department Judge Ariel Zimmerman, who last week rejected Deitch's request for temporary injunctions and ordered the parties to appoint an agreed arbitrator. At the heart of the affair is the Rakanati family's intention to sell 29% of the club's shares to a group of investors led by Jason Levin for $50 million. Deitch, who holds 17.5%, demanded to exercise a first right of refusal to purchase the entire package and provided a bank guarantee of 12 million shekels. Subsequently, Shimon Mizrahi pulled a superior right of refusal as a veteran director to purchase about 26% of the package, and Rakanati sought to transfer 7.5% to Levin on a separate track – moves that Deitch claims were intended to block him from becoming the controlling owner with 55.5%. Dr. Leshem, a senior partner at the Meitar law firm, a Harvard graduate and ranked first in international guides, was chosen to decide one of the most sensitive ownership battles in the history of Israeli sports.