Zim again rejected Glickman’s purchase offer: “Underestimates the company”

Zim traded higher in early trading in New York (Tue), against the background of an update it published regarding a possible acquisition of the company, which is run without a controlling owner. The board of directors of the shipping company started a process of strategic examination of alternatives, after receiving a purchase offer several months ago from CEO Eli Glickman together with businessman Rami Ungar. The offer was rejected and a process was initiated, in the framework of which Zim received interest from several parties, and as far as is known also received binding offers for the purchase.

Yesterday (Monday), after the end of trading on Wall Street, Zim published a report in which it stated that “Zim’s board of directors received competitive offers from a number of strategic parties to purchase all of the company’s shares, and it is examining the offers while focusing on bringing significant value to the shareholders.”

Zim Board of Directors: The offer significantly undervalues ​​the company

In the meantime, Glickman and Unger also improved their original offer – which, according to estimates, was at a price of $20 per share (which reflects a value of $2.4 billion for the company), and is similar to the current market price – but according to the report, “after a careful examination, the ZIM board concluded that the offer significantly undervalues ​​the company, and informed the group led by management that the offer was rejected.”

The report also states that the strategic review process is in advanced stages and alternatives for creating value are being examined, such as the sale of the company, capital allocation and other options, “in order to maximize the value for the shareholders”. The notice qualifies that there is no guarantee that any transaction will take place in the end.

Let’s recall that it was revealed in Globes that one of the companies interested in purchasing Zim, and which, as far as is known, submitted an offer for its purchase, is the shipping company Heg Lloyd. Reports that another shipping giant, MSC, is also interested in Zim have been denied by MSC.

The possibility of selling Zim to Hepag Lloyd (and to a competing company in general) provokes strong opposition from Zim’s employees’ committee. Oren Caspi, chairman of the committee, told Globes that “the company cannot be transferred to foreign hands. After October 7, putting the country’s security in foreign hands is a cry for generations. We, as a committee, are embarking on a horma war. It is not a matter of money, but a requirement to maintain open routes and continuity of supply in an emergency. We are doing the state’s work on the issue.”

The committee is examining the declaration of a labor dispute and in recent days met with the Minister of Transportation Miri Regev and members of the Knesset, and are expected to meet with the Minister of Finance as well.

Zim was recently at the center of an activist struggle when a group of shareholders from Israel, who collectively own 8% of the company’s shares, demanded to appoint three directors on their behalf, while the Zim board of directors opposed this. Last week, the parties reached a compromise that includes the expansion of the board of directors and the addition of two of the three directors proposed by the group of shareholders.

Zim was first issued almost five years ago and during this period its stock was volatile and reacted sharply to changes in sea freight prices. At its peak, against the backdrop of supply chain disruptions during the Corona period, Zim’s value jumped to $10 billion, and at its lowest point two years ago, it traded for less than $1 billion. Today, after a jump of over 40% in three months, the value of the company is 2.4 billion dollars after an increase of about 50% in the stock in the last three months.