An investment group led by municipal service provider Milgam and Phoenix Insurance Group has purchased Israel’s postal service from the government for a reported NIS 461m ($124.8m).
According to Reuters, the buyers have agreed to take on the NIS 900m (US$243.7m) debt and will make a further 500 employees redundant.
“We fully believe in the state of Israel, in the strength of the economy and the country’s future to emerge stronger from any crisis. The Israel Post Company is a cornerstone in Israel’s economic history,” the Milgam-Phoenix-Leiman Schlussel group said in a statement.
The privatization of Israel’s post was confirmed last July by the government’s Ministry of Communication and will be completed once various regulatory approvals have been met, according to communications minister Shlomo Karhi. “We will work so that the privatization is completed as soon as possible, in order to open the market to real competition,” he told Reuters.
Commenting in a LinkedIn post celebrating the sale, Israel Post CEO David Laron said, “I’m proud and happy that Milgam Group chose to invest in the Israel Post acquisition. I appreciate Israel Post’s employees and am glad we’ll be able to provide Israel with advanced postal services.
“The recovery and privatization process was remarkably successful and achieved within an unprecedented timeframe. The recovery of the organization, improving the service, and advancing into growth are fruits of the collaboration between the company’s management, the employee representatives and the Histadrut (General Federation of Labor in Israel), all of whom [are] focusing on the main and mutual goal above all other considerations. Israel Post will continue striving to offer our clients better and more advanced services.”