Israel to sell 49-percent state share in Zim

Israel to sell 49-percent state share in Zim    The state of Israel has given its preliminary approval for the sale of its 48.6-percent stake in Zim Israel Navigation Co. to Israel Corp., a private company controlled by Israeli millionaires the Ofer brothers.
   Israel Corp., a conglomerate that already owns 49 percent of Zim, has bid NIS504 million ($115 million) to acquire the state’s share in the Israeli shipping company. The state has named Israel Corp. as the preferred candidate for Zim’s privatization, after a long search for bidders.
   The sale is subject to regulatory approval from the restrictive practices commission of Israel.
   A spokesman for Israel Corp. said the company expects the sale to be finalized “very soon.”
   Zim, ranked as the 15th largest containership operator in the world, was founded in 1945, initially to carry refugees and immigrants to Israel.
   For the first nine months of 2003, Zim had earnings of NIS128
million ($29 million) and revenues of NIS6.7 billion ($1.5 billion).
   Whereas Zim will now be fully privatized, a number of other shipping companies based in Asia and the Middle East, such as United Arab Shipping Co., Neptune Orient Lines, Yang Ming Marine Transport, China Ocean Shipping Co., China Shipping Group and Sinotrans, continue to be partly or fully state-owned.