TEL AVIV- Mizrahi-Tefahot Bank and Union Bank will appeal to Israel's anti-trust court a decision by the country's anti-trust authority to rejected a planned merger between the two banks, Mizrahi said on Sunday.
Mizrahi, Israel’s third-largest bank, late in 2017 had agreed to buy Union, the country’s sixth-largest, in an all share deal valued at 1.4 billion shekels ($380 million).
In May, the anti-trust authority said the disappearance of Union Bank as a competitor likely would harm the already limited competition over private customers in the banking sector.
The Bank of Israel, the country’s banking regulator, has been a longstanding supporter of the proposed deal.
($1 = 3.6872 shekels)
(Reporting by Tova Cohen, Editing by Ari Rabinovitch) ((tova.cohen@thomsonreuters.com; +972-9-899-0222; Reuters Messaging: tova.cohen.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))
