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In Israel [Meir Gurvitz] is the controlling shareholder in Arazim Investment Ltd. (TASE: AZRM), which has income producing real estate in the UK and it is the only public company that he holds. Arazim was hit hard by the financial crisis in 2008 and its debts mounted up to NIS 1 billion, but this has been reduced to NIS 180 million, without any need of a haircut or write down. "This is some indication of his financial capabilities," a source close to him said, "His Israeli activities are only a small and public part of his activities, the rest are spread over Europe and the US."

When asked why Gurvitz would want to buy El Al the source said, "Gurvitz believes that the collective agreements that have been signed with the employees, makes El Al 'interesting' It is clear to him that the company won't bring him prof
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Gurvitz even holds a pilot's license and was known to fly the private jet that Arazim once owned. He was born in Kiryat Ata near Haifa and left for England when he was 15 to study at the Gateshead yeshiva. When he was 20 he moved to London with �500 in his pocket, which he had borrowed from a friend, and he began dealing in building materials. In 1986 he bought 73 properties from Lloyds Bank for $50 million together with his friend the late Motti Zisser, and took control of the stock market shell of Arazim. At its peak Arazim was worth NIS 1.1 billion and was traded on the Tel Aviv 100 Index but as mentioned the company fell on hard times after 2008.

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El Al has retained the U.S. investment bank Jefferies to sell the shares in the United States, but sources said the airline will not meet an end-of-August deadline to sell $150 million in shares to the public. The share sale is a condition set by the Finance Ministry before it will agree to guarantee a $250 million bank loan the airline needs to stay afloat.

The El Al offering is ensnared by several problems, among them the government’s commitment to buy any shares the public does not buy. If it purchases the full allotment, the state could end up holding 61% of the airlines. The problem is that by law, if it amasses more than a 45% stake it must make a general offer to buy out the rest of the El Al’s shareholders.

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Despite El Al’s deep financial troubles, Gurvitz reportedly sees the agreements with the four workers’ committees that management has recently reached as turning the airline into an attractive investment.

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