Israel’s Delek Group, one of the key players in the country’s offshore gas development is to raise $498mn from the sale of its 47% controlling stake in Israeli insurance firm Phoenix. The 6 July deal comes as Delek is looking to divest its financial holdings to comply with Israeli regulations, which prohibit companies from having stakes in both financial and-non-financial firms.
Delek now considers Israel’s offshore gas fields, first among which is 19 tcf Leviathan, to be its non-core business. It had in any case been selling off other assets in an attempt to raise funds to help finance its share of development costs (MEES, 13 June). (CONTINUED - 106 WORDS)
