A week before the option on buying Bank Leumi expires, and mere hours before the decisive meeting with the minister who has the power to extend that option -  Mark Neporent, chief operating officer of Cerberus Capital Management, is taking the offensive.

In an exclusive interview with TheMarker he points an accusing finger at local businessmen who borrow from the bank. "It's clear that certain businessmen are uncomfortable with us controlling Bank Leumi," he states emphatically. "No one is controlling the bank today, and this serves their interests, so they want to make the tender fail."
 
This morning Neporent meets with Minister Rafi Eitan, whose portfolio may be geriatric affairs but whom Prime Minister Ehud Olmert tapped to handle Bank Leumi's privatization. His is the decision over extending the option.

Without Eitan's approval, Cerberus-Gabriel, which won the tender to buy a 20% controlling interest in the bank in 2005, won't be able to seal the deal.

Cerberus-Gabriel received permissino to buy 9.99% outright; the other 10.01% remains contingent on various regulatory approvals. There the problem lies - it can't get the approvals it needs in time.

During the interview, held in a close, suffocating room crammed with local consultants, Neporent almost loses his Anglo-Saxon politeness while trying to explain, a week before Leumi slips through his fingers, the frustration he feels in response to the difficulty in gaining the approval needed to take control.

"This is not the first time we are acquiring a bank. We have financial holdings in 40 countries. The U.S., Germany, Austria, Japan, Slovakia, Slovenia, Malta, the Czech Republic, and the list goes on. We have a banking license in each of these countries. In none of the countries did we encounter a problem like this obtaining a license."

Why did you abandon the media arena?

"If you search for information about us on the internet, you'll find very little. We prefer to remain confidential. It's the way we do business. The way we were portrayed in the media is very disappointing. There were leaks the whole time, which came from regulators who don't want to see us taking control of the bank."

Who exactly do you mean?

"There was one regulator who was very vocal on the matter of Leumi, and he made it clear he is interested in seeing the bank sold through the stock market."

You mean Accountant General Yaron Zelekha?

"I don't understand why those above him allow him to continue expressing his objection to the tender. Well, the government decided this is how it wants to sell control of the bank. If I had a worker speaking out against my decisions, he would have been out of there a while ago."

So you are essentially fighting the regulators?

"We are not fighting regulators, and of course not through the media."

Israel has already successfully privatized banks. Could it be that there are businessmen working against you?

"It's clear some local business people do not want us to enter the bank, and they're comfortable with it not being controlled by anybody. The bank's current situation serves their interests."

Who do you mean?

"I don't want to single out anybody, and from my angle these people are not related to the matter. We have a deal with the government of Israel, and not with them. I expect them to honor our contractual rights."