Zim CEO resigns

Zim CEO resigns    Rafi Danieli was named chief executive officer of Zim Lines on Tuesday, just two days after Doron Goder's departure was announced.
   The appointment of Danieli, a 31-year veteran at the company, will become effective “following an orderly transition of office and responsibilities” with Goder. Danieli had been serving as deputy chief financial officer and deputy CEO of Zim.
   Israel Corp., the parent of Zim Integrated Shipping Services Ltd., issued a statement on Sunday that Goder was leaving “due to differences in approach relating to Zim’s plans in view of the global financial crisis.”
   Israel Corp. noted that last year it injected $246 million into Zim and recently announced its principle willingness to inject an additional $150 million.
   In February, Standard & Poor’s Maalot lowered its rating of Zim’s Series A, B, and C bonds issued by Zim to BB+/- from A/-.
   S&P/Maalot also reduced its rating on Israel Corp.’s series 2-8 bonds, pointing to, among other things, its view that there's increased credit risk and its expectation that Zim will have a continuing operating deficit. It also said the negative outlook “reflects the uncertainty concerning Zim’s financial needs in the next two years and the probability, in our opinion, that the Israel Corp. will support Zim with significantly higher sums than it has announced, based on S&P Maalot’s belief that Zim is a strategic holding for the Israel Corp.”
   Last month Zim said it was conducting negotiations with shipyards with the goal of canceling the purchase of a portion of the ships that it has ordered or to defer delivery dates.
   Israel Corp., which owns 99 percent of Zim, said in a letter to the Tel-Aviv Stock Exchange Thursday that it is also seeking “to reschedule part of payments in relation to the purchase of ships by providing credit to Zim for certain sums.”
   According to the information service AXS-Alphaliner, Zim is the 17th-largest container shipping company in the world with 31 owned and 68 chartered ships with total capacity of 276,913 TEUs. AXS-Alphaliner said Zim has 40 ships with aggregate capacity of 285,866 TEU on order. ' Chris Dupin