Keren Noy acquires control of the company Gas oak Energy development, which holds about 4% of the Tamar natural gas reservoir. Last weekend, Keren Noy signed an agreement to purchase the controlling shares (79.56%) in Alon Gaz from Alon.
According to the agreement, Keren Noy will pay NIS 395 million for 79.56% of Alon Gaz’s shares held by the Alon Group. The transaction reflects a value of NIS 496.5 million for Alon Gas, which is 23.5% higher than the value at which Alon Gaz ended the previous trading week.
Alon Gaz holds 95% of the shares of Dor Gener Gas Exploration Partnership, which holds 4% of the shares in the Tamar reservoir, while the remaining shares (5%) are held by Dor Alon, controlled by Moti Ben Moshe. In recent months, Yuval Harari, chairman of the Alon Group, has conducted a tender for the sale of the controlling shares in Alon Gaz, at the request of the institutional bodies that also appointed him to the position.
Keren Noy is managed by Pini Cohen, Ran Shelach and Gil-Ad Boswitz. According to Alon Gaz, the completion of the transaction is subject to the approval of the competition commissioner, the approval of the oil commissioner at the Ministry of Energy and the approval of the bondholders of the Alon Group.
Keren Noy currently holds 26% of the super royalties of the “Shark” and “Tanin” gas reservoirs, which it acquired during 2020 from the Delek Group for NIS 318 million. Therefore, it is not likely to encounter difficulties in obtaining approval for the transaction on behalf of the Petroleum Commissioner of the Ministry of Energy.
On the other hand, Alon Gaz’s small holding in the Tamar reservoir is not supposed to create any problem for the Competition Authority.