Former Finance Ministry Director General Shmuel Slavin to capitalize on stock plunge
The chairman of Sela Capital plans to purchase company shares, signaling confidence in the asset after a 26% decline in value this year.
Entrepreneur Shmuel Slavin, who served as Director General of the Ministry of Finance and currently serves as chairman of the real estate company Sela Capital, intends to purchase shares for significant sums, as learned by ICE.
Slavin, who published financial reports within the last 24 hours, holds shares in the company, which has a market capitalization of 2.17 billion shekels. Since the beginning of the year, the stock has fallen by 26%, and it appears he identifies the current share price as undervalued.
As far as is known, Slavin will purchase shares in two installments: the first for half a million shekels and another for a similar amount. It is possible that he will acquire additional tranches later. The purchase of shares by the company's chairman is perceived as an expression of confidence in the firm and serves as a positive signal for investors.
Recently, we have seen Hershy Friedman of Azorim, Igal Damri of Y.H. Damri, and other company owners carrying out share buybacks. In the case of Damri, just a few days ago he purchased shares for 620,000 shekels, raising his stake in the company to approximately 53%. The purchase occurred just one day after Damri's new compensation policy was approved, and only two months after shareholders refused to approve an upgrade to his salary terms by an especially narrow margin.
Additionally, the owner of Mishorim, Alex Schneider, has increased his stake. Less than a month ago, he purchased shares for 6.42 million shekels. Initially, he bought Mishorim shares for 3.653 million shekels, increasing his holding to 73.3% of the company, and shortly thereafter, he carried out another purchase for about 3.33 million shekels. At that time, Mishorim's stock had fallen by 35% over three months.
According to reports published by Slavin's company, the evacuation of bank offices in the Moshe Aviv Tower resulted in a loss of about 3 million shekels; however, new lease agreements and a deal in Kfar Saba boosted half-year revenues to 206 million shekels.
Revenues for the income-producing real estate company rose by approximately 7.1% in the second quarter, and NOI grew by 6.8%. In the first half of the year, revenues increased by 5.1% to 206 million shekels, while real FFO rose by 4.2% to 127.7 million shekels.
