Electra Real Estate Ltd. has approved the raising of up to NIS 200 million via a bond placement among financial institutions. It plans to initially raise NIS 150 million, but could raise the offering to NIS 200 million if demand is heavy.

Electra Real Estate will expand its issue of Series B bonds first issued in August 2005, when the company went public.

Since June, Electra Real Estate has made major acquisitions amounting to NIS 1 billion altogether. These include the purchase of an office block in Louisville, Kentucky for NIS 188 million in July; the purchase of 65% of an office building from Swisscom AG (NYSE: SCM; SWX: SCMN) in Zurich in a buy-lease back deal for NIS 410 million; and the purchase of six properties in Germany for NIS 320 million two weeks ago. In July, the company and its partners sold their stakes in seven buildings leased to Deutsche Telekom AG (NYSE: DT; XETRA: DTEG) for NIS 1.87 billion; Electra Real Estate made a cash flow surplus of NIS 101 million on the sale.

Electra Real Estate owns 75 properties in Israel and other countries, including 61 income-producing properties with an aggregate space of over 700,000 sq.m. The company is also a 10% partner in the consortium that owns 16 Hilton hotels in the UK. The company’s business expanded during the first half of the year, posting a net profit of NIS 61.6 million compared with NIS 38.2 million in the first half of 2005.

Edwina Baniqued