Itzik towards |
Hapoel Tel Aviv players (Radad Jabara)
Hapoel Tel Aviv is headed for a legal conflict between the new owners, the Mintzberg Group, and the outgoing owners, who still own about 45% of the group. There are differences between the parties regarding the actual financial situation of the club. In light of the fact that the team will play in the lower playoffs, it is expected to end the season with an operating loss of between three and 3.5 million NIS.
At the beginning of the season, the team’s budget was built according to the qualification for the upper playoffs, and they did not take into account the scenario of a lower playoff. Therefore, the Reds have the operating deficit in question. As soon as the team finally realized that it would be in the lower playoffs, the Mintzberg team was informed about it and now there is a conflict over who should bear this deficit, the new owners or the outgoing ones.
From the point of view of the outgoing owners, this is a problem of the Mintzberg Group, which has done extensive due diligence for the group over a long period of time. It is also said in the vicinity of the owners that in the meantime they have dropped to about 45% and no longer manage the team: “There is no better financial situation for a team in the National League than that of Hapoel Tel Aviv.”
The possibilities are that the parties will meet in court, or that the shares of the outgoing owners will be diluted in exchange for the payment of debts. By the way, the parties did not hold a solemn ceremony of the sale of the group and in fact, apart from Boaz Toshav, who led the move, there is a disconnect between the departing owners and the Mintzberg group.
As I recall, in his interview with ONE, one of the owners of the Reds Zeev Greenberg said: “I don’t really understand why, but Mintzberg has not contacted me or asked me to this day. There was no arranged work meeting, everything was done through a resident Boaz. Did I expect them to talk to me? I did not expect. I was hoping they would contact me, but they chose not to and that’s fine.”
The businessman, Dobi Schnidman, signed a memorandum of understanding on his entry as a partner in the Mintzberg Group. Schnidman is still supposed to do his due diligence for the group before signing the agreement. Initially, he was supposed to enter about 5%, but could reach the level of about 10% of the ownership.
In any case, he wanted to concentrate on the youth department, on the women’s group in Hapoel Shevim, to contribute there with managerial skills, business relationships, striving for excellence, and everything he could give for these things, and to be less involved in the men’s group.
