Uri Cohen is an Israeli analyst that follows KOOR. He writes the strategy of KOOR is meshuneh (bizarre). In the last two years KOOR sold almost all its holdings,such as Elbit Systems, ECI, TAdiran Kesher, Elisra, and Scopus, Knafayim and Sheraton Moria Hotel Chain. The only company still held is Makhteshim Agan, that is filling Koor's bank account with cash.
Now KOOR announced that it reached an agreement with Goldman Sachs that will extend a 1.5 B credit line to allow KOOR to but some 2.7 B Barclay and Credit Suisse banks shares. Since these are very large banks, market values of 55 B, KOOR's large investment will not give him even a chair in the management. KOOR is acting, then, not as a holding company but as an investment fund.
I have confidence in Nochi Dankner (owner of KOOR) and am collecting its shares. I may be wrong, but KOOR's market value is lower than the cash in hand, a classical investment opportunity.
FOLLOW UP: The Sunday The Marker brings a note by Doron Zur titled: "Koor wants to invest in Barclays? It is Reasonable!" which is a direct answer to the above commented note. Zur notes that the investment in European banks is certainly different from the traditional KOOR we knew, which was holding company of almost a hundred industrial firms, but Barclays is a great investment opportunity and that is all that is important. That european banks are undervalued, earning 20% on capital and paying 10% annual dividend.
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