The chase for a foothold in the Israeli oil and gas exploration industry is quickening. The Alpha Capital Anstalt hedge fund claims that it owns Noya Oil and Gas Explorations Ltd., the general partner in Modiin Energy LP (TASE:MDIN.L), and that the partnership is not owned by Yitzhak Sultan and Nochi Dankner's IDB-DT Energy (2010) Ltd.
The statement appears in a letter submitted to the Tel Aviv District Court today, which says, "The allocation (the allocation of Noya shares to Sultan in September 2009 - T.K) is null and void, and constitutes fraud and theft."
Sources inform ''Globes'' that one of Alpha Capital's owners is none other Austrian billionaire, Martin Schlaff.
This afternoon, Alpha Capital and its wholly-owned subsidiary Ness Energy International Inc. (Pink Sheets: NESS) filed a lawsuit with the Tel Aviv District Court against Noya, Sultan's company Du-Tzah Ltd., and IDB Development Corp. Ltd.. The key claim is that ownership of Noya was illegally transferred to Sultan, and later to IDB. Sultan and IDB own 95% of Noya, which owns 75% of Modiin Energy's general partner.
The general partner is entitled to $25,000 a month management fee, and bears 7.15% of all expenditure on oil exploration, and to a special weighting in the event that a commercial discovery is made.
The petitioners claim that Ness Energy, which owned 100% of Noya prior to the deal with Sultan, had its holding diluted to just 5%. Alpha Capital claims that it obtained ownership of Ness Energy as the result of repayment of a debt to which it was a party in the US in 2008.
Modiin Energy owns 29% of the offshore Myra and Sarah exploration licenses, 70% of the Gabriella license, and 100% of the Yam Hadera license. It also owns 22.5% of the onshore Sarit license near Ashdod, where there is a well. The partnership also owns 15% of the Zurim exploration license, which is controlled by Ginko Oil Exploration Ltd., at the Dead Sea.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on October 20, 2010
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