Kenny Rozenberg seeks to raise El Al stake

US businessman and El Al controlling shareholder Kenny Rozenberg is looking to strengthen his hold on the carrier - an investment on which he has already lost 50% of his money. Rozenberg recently approached El Al's board of directors with the offer of converting the owner's loan, which he has given the company, into equity. Following the offer, the board has set up an independent committee to examine the proposal. According to El Al, no agreements have yet been formed between the parties. El Al is currently traded on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE) with a market cap of NIS 640m. Rozenberg holds a 39.1% stake worth NIS 250m. The owners loan to El Al amounts to $70m (NIS 240m), which if full converted at El Al's current market cap would increase Rozenberg's stake to 55.6%. Rosenberg became El Al's controlling shareholders two years ago after investing NIS 360m as part of a TASE offering conducted to save the airline from collapsing during the Covid pandemic. Subsequently Rozenberg injected a further NIS 166m into El Al for additional shares and extended the $70m owner's loan. To date, Rozenberg has lost hundreds of millions of shekels on the investment.<br/>