The Minister of Communications, Yoaz Handel, announced today (Wednesday) his intention to promote the privatization of 100% of the state’s holdings in the Israel Postal Company. According to his announcement, the decision was made after a series of discussions with the participation of the professional echelons in the Ministry of Finance and in cooperation with the Companies Authority.
The privatization outline agreed upon by Minister Handel and Minister of Finance Avigdor Lieberman seeks to promote an IPO of up to 40% of the shares of the postal company on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange. At the same time, the Ministers of Communications and Finance will promote the procedures that will lead to full privatization by selling the rest of the state’s shares in the postal company through a private sale or offering or any combination thereof, or by privatizing 100% of the postal shares.
In 2018, the state began a process of selling 20% of the company’s shares to a private investor. The Ministry of Communications believes that this model does not achieve the goal, and as long as the state remains in control of the postal company, it is required to inject hundreds of millions of shekels every few years to regulate the company’s activities.
According to Minister Handel, “Since taking office, I have been warned not to touch the post office. Communications ministers one after the other have refrained from touching this hot potato. Today we are embarking on a new path in the Israeli postal market. And the parcel market is growing, and in this reality we are making a big change today that will bring Israeli citizens a new era of quality, efficient and advanced postal services. “In cooperation with the dedicated workers. I thank Finance Minister Lieberman for the joint work in implementing this reform.”
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