גפני: "הריכוזיות מפלצתית - צריך לטפל בה ולא בכפפות של משי"

Bank Hapoalim (TASE: POLI ) stock is sinking by 2% on mammoth turnover of NIS 90 million, at just after 10:30 AM Wednesday. Its dive and turnover are evidently due to heavy selling by the bank's employees, whose shares were released from lockup today.

No less than 56 million shares were released for sale today, worth some NIS 340 million on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange. The workers received the shares, comprising a 4.5% interest in the bank, through an offer back in February 1998.

Just yesterday, Ma'ariv reported that appraiser Prof. Amir Barnea evaluated Bank Hapoalim at NIS 16.44 billion, a cool 110% above its current valuation on the TASE. It appears that neither the market nor the workers, who presumably are thoroughly cognizant of the bank's situation, take the professor's assessment seriously.

The workers bought the shares using interes-free loans from the bank. Dividends they received were rolled back to the bank to help repay the loans, which were linked to the consumer price index.

In an effort to relieve pressure on Hapoalim stock today, the bank's management said the workers could extend the loans, but that from now, the loans would bear interest of 2%, payable each month.

Judging by the enormity of turnover in the bank's stock, the workers were not tempted.

The employees paid NIS 5.82 per share, which was just 3% below Hapoalim's opening price today. It is hard to calculate whether they profited from their shareholdings, but they may have come out with a small profit, based on the fact that the bank paid NIS 3.4 billion in dividends since October 1998.

Bank Hapoalim stock from Oct 1998