Capital market sources have told "Globes" that former Psagot Investment House Ltd. CEO Roy Vermus and chairman Arik Steinberg were involved in the purchase of IDB Development Corporation bonds by York Capital Management. They add that, for weeks, Vermus and Steinberg have been at the center of the moves by York Capital senior managing director Jeremy Blank to acquire almost a quarter of IDB Development's bonds for NIS 400 million.
Vermus and Steinberg managed Psagot when it was owned by York Capital, and were considered very close to Blank, before it sold the investment house for a huge profit in late 2010: it sold Psagot after four years to Apax Partners for NIS 2.7 billion for a 150% return on investment. They declined to comment on today's report, and York Capital has been unavailable for comment.
The sale of Psagot made Vermus and Steinberg very wealthy men. According to reports in late 2010, Vermus received a bonus of NIS 50-80 million on the deal, while Steinberg, who was identified with York Capital when it acquired Psagot in 2006, made tens of millions of shekels. Vermus was forced by the State Prosecutor to resign as a condition for the sale of the company to Apax, in the wake of the securities fraud and stock running through the company's nostro portfolio. He was facing an indictment, subject to a hearing. Psagot paid a NIS 150 million fine to close the case and enable the transfer of ownership to Apax to go ahead.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on October 14, 2012
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