A chapter in the painful saga of El Al Airlines financial downturn came to an end after the new offering of $150 million in shares was completed on September 17, 2020. A 27 year old Orthodox Jewish college student has secured roughly a 43% of stake in El Al Airlines. This means that the air carrier will have a new controlling party.
Kanfei Nesharim Aviation, the company created by Eli Rosenberg, bought $107 million of shares that would give his company a nearly 43% stake in Israel’s flag carrier. Meanwhile, the government of Israel secured a 15% stake for $34 million.
Earlier in July 2020, an unnamed investor offered to place $75 million into El Al in return for a 44.99% stake. Later, it became clear that was the first Rosenberg’s attempt to buy control of the Israeli carrier.
The final step in fortifying the deal among investors and the airline is to receive the Parliament Finance Committee’s approval.
Rosenberg’s spokesman revealed that once the new controlling party is approved, changes to the airline’s board and services would come.
In July 2020, the government of Israel planned to nationalize El Al, as the airline used to be government-owned until 2005. However, the takeover plan would result in one third of the airline’s employees losing their jobs.