Business in Brief

Mizrahi buying half of Bank Yahav

The Mizrahi-Tefahot banking group is buying 50 percent of Bank Yahav for NIS 371 million, it announced this week. The deal will close in March after Yahav sells its holdings in provident funds. Under the law, Mizrahi can't own any provident funds (or mutual funds) because it already provides pension counseling. (Tal Levy)

Eliezer Fishman buys Belgrade real estate

Israeli real estate tycoon Eliezer Fishman has made his first investment in Serbia. Two of his companies, both listed in Tel Aviv - Jerusalem Economic Corp.and Industrial Buildings - have bought land zoned for commerce in Belgrade. The two together purchased 80 dunams for 10 million euros through a jointly owned firm registered in Holland. They foresee building a 45,000-square meter mall (in gross terms) at a cost of NIS 26 million euros, including fees and taxes. (Shlomi Sheffer)

Gilat Sat quarterly net soars 116%

Gilat Satellite boasted a 116 percent rise third-quarter net profit from the parallel quarter to $5.6 million, it said this week. It also noted a sharp increase in its work with governments, as opposed to private enterprise. Earnings per share of 14 cents easily passed Wall Street expectations of 12 cents. Its profit for the first nine months of 2007 grew 171 percent from the same period last year to $16.3 million. Third-quarter revenues rose 12 percent to $71.5 million. (Omri Cohen)

Avi Gabbay named Bezeq CEO, finally

It's official: Avi Gabbay has been named the chief executive of Bezeq, but he will bear no responsibility for the operations of the telecommunications company's subsidiaries. The Bezeq board approved Gabbay's position last month, promoting him from "acting CEO" to simply CEO. Gabbay took over as acting CEO from Ika Abravanel, who had led the company since Jacob Perry stepped down over accounting problems. Gelbard quit after an auditor reported in April that the management was to blame when Bezeq failed to depreciate obsolete gear at cellular services subsidiary Pelephone. (Eran Gabay)