Government Outlines Format For Haifa Refinery IPO
The Israeli government has published the format under which it will carry out one of its largest privatizations to date at a value of around $1.3bn – the initial public offering of shares in the 180,000 b/d Haifa oil refinery. According to a 10 January report in Globes, the sale will be conducted in two phases, each offering a minimum 40% of the company’s shares. The first phase will see shares offered to investment institutions through an auction process, with the institutions limited to a 4.99% stake each, while in the second, shares will be available for general public subscription through a standard IPO process. The sale of the Haifa plant is the second phase of the privatization of Israel Oil Refineries (IOR) which was launched in late 2004 (MEES, 10 January 2005). IOR owned the Haifa and smaller 80,000 b/d Ashdod plants, which was sold to local company Paz Oil in mid-2006 (MEES, 7 August 2006).
