Israel's Phoenix buys 20% of El Al Airlines frequent flier club

Israeli insurer Phoenix has exercised an option to buy roughly 20% of El Al Israel Airlines' frequent flier programme, the companies said in a Tel Aviv regulatory filing on Tuesday. El Al will receive $14m and own 80.1% of its frequent flier programme and it said it would post a gain of about $63m in its Q3 financial results. El Al noted that following the deal, it would no longer need to raise additional capital. In March, cash strapped El Al signed a non-binding deal for a $130 million loan from Phoenix and put up its Matmid frequent flier club as collateral for the loan. Phoenix received an option to buy 25% of Matmid by the end of 2027. On Sunday, El Al said it plans to repay a $45m loan that it took from the government during the COVID-19 pandemic by the end of the year amid improvement in the travel landscape.<br/>