ISA is opening an investigation of Yoel Goldman holdings throughout the year

The Israel Securities Commission (ISA) has opened an investigation into the American company, All Year Holdings Ltd. (TASE: ALYR), which has bonds traded on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange. The company deals in income-generating real estate in New York, is owned by Joel Goldman, and is headquartered in New York. The company raised more than NIS 2 billion from Israeli investors and has struggled to make payments owed to bondholders. Yoel Goldman is not only the controlling shareholder, but he is also the chairman of the board of directors of the company, and he was also chairman until its collapse. In practice, he has managed the company since its debt was floated in Tel Aviv, but he has not been to Israel for long. So Shin Bet investigators will be challenged in trying to question him about the events that led to the company’s collapse. Any potential trial would also be difficult as long as he chose not to come to Israel. All Year’s holdings collapsed, with 2.5 billion shekels in debt to its bondholders. Holders of collateralized bonds (Series 3 and 5) decided last month to present the debt in full to them for immediate repayment. Holders of two series of unsecured bonds supported the decision. Secured bonds are mainly owned by financial institutions, while holders of unsecured bonds are mainly private investors. All Year Holdings reported opening an ISA investigation into the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange on Friday. The ISA’s request for documentation based on an investigation into possible breaches of the securities law was submitted to the company’s representative office in Israel. If the investigation detects suspicious material, investigations will be conducted in the United States in coordination with the American authorities. The CEO of All Year Holdings is Assaf Ravid, who took over the position at the same time the investigation was opened, and the company’s CFO is Yizhar Shimoni, an Israeli who does not live in Israel. All Year Holdings deals in residential leases, purchases, refurbishment and management of residential buildings in Brooklyn, New York. Its assets are distributed in the neighborhoods of Williamsburg, Bushwick, Crown Heights, and other places in the borough. In January, four All Year Holdings directors announced their resignations. The man behind the company, Yoel Goldman, is a member of the Satmar hasidic community in Brooklyn, one of the region’s largest and most influential real estate developers that has become trendy in recent years. A representative of Israeli financial institutions who toured the company’s properties before investing in them said at the time, “His buildings are gorgeous, among the finest I have seen. I would have moved there today. There is no doubt that he understands real estate.” Last December, All Year Holdings and its CEO were slapped with financial penalties in connection with the violations in 2018. This was after it emerged that the $ 3.7 million that was supposed to be transferred to the company was actually being used to repay a loan on Proprietary property. By Goldman. The “bug” was discovered only months later. Goldman was required to repay the money to the company plus interest. He was fined 250,000 shekels and a fine of 600,000 shekels, and Goldman was banned from being an officekeeper in a company for nine months. Two years ago, amid problematic press reports and notifications to the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, Entropy, a Tel Aviv consulting firm that provides services to financial institutions, released a report that showed All Year Holdings’ financial position in a very poor light. According to Praedicta, a fintech company specializing in financial intelligence, the institutions with the largest bonds in the company are Meitav Dash, with holdings of about 200 million shekels in various series of bonds, Clal (about 180 million shekels), and Migdal and Phoenix (about 140 million One shekel). Some of the shekel’s euro holdings represent public pension savings. Shortly thereafter, Entropy published a report citing the corporate governance failures of each holding year. The company was already in a difficult financial situation. Entropy found that All Year Holdings have liquid assets of only $ 44 million, and a few ill-considered properties are of little value. At the same time, the company’s leverage was already very high, near the ceiling set by the financial pledges on the basis of which it raised debt. The yields on the company’s bonds have become very high, indicating that investors saw its chances of paying off its debts low – and Entropy estimated that it would be of negative value in a quick liquidation, that is, the funds raised would not be sufficient to cover its costs. Debts. It was only in December 2018, after trading All Year Holdings’ two-digit yields for a month, that Midroog downgraded its bonds. Two years later, the coronavirus pandemic emerged, and last November, All Year Holdings was forced to stop paying the NIS 109 million owed to bondholders. Bonds tumbled 40%. Goldman asked investors to be patient, saying he believed in the company and had even poured cash into it. He said that prior to the outbreak of the epidemic, a large asset sale was imminent, as well as a refinancing deal, but this did not go forward due to the coronavirus crisis. A bondholder source said, “Throughout the year he has no corporate governance. Decisions are made by Goldman behind the scenes, and he does what he likes. He has cut under the table commitments to businessmen from the Haredi community, and runs the company like a private kiosk.” Posted by Globes, Israel business news – en.globes.co.il – on March 7, 2021 © Copyright Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2021