Public offering of 300,000 non-voting shares of stock in the Angle-Palestine Bank, which is controlled by the Jewish Colonial Trust founded by the late Dr. Theodor Herzl to finance Jewish settlement in Palestine, will be made tomorrow by Robert Benson amp; sons, Ltd.
According to details of the issue announced today following the annual general meeting of the Trust, the shares will be offered at $9.37. It is expected that it will easily be oversubscribed and that there will be active dealings in it on the London Stock Exchange. The bank has been paying eight per cent, tax free. Benson amp; Sons is the issuing bank together with the brokerage house of Cazenove, Ackroyd, Greenwod amp; Co.
Speedy rehabilitation of the Jewish Colonial Trust and payment of dividends on its stock in 1937 was predicted at the shareholders’ meeting. As a result of the bank’s operations, it was revealed, the trust will profit to the extent of about $1,250,000, which will enable it to pay off its outstanding indebtedness and to pay dividends from profits accruing from its holdings in the bank.
The annual directors’ report to the shareholders of the bank reveals a net profit for 1935 of about $650,000 which, with $50,000 brought forward from 1934, makes a total of approximately $700,000 available for dividends.
A dividend of eight per cent, tax free, was voted for the year and payment of four and a half per cent on the cumulative redeemable preference shares of the second half of 1935. Of the balance of profit, some $500,000 is transferred to the reserve fund and $53,000 carried forward. Total deposits at the end of 1935 amounted to about $35,000,000.
The public offering will not affect control of the bank in any way, since the shares do not carry voting rights. The Trust will continue to hold ninety-seven per cent of the voting stock.
The shareholders’ meeting decided to increase the bank’s capital by converting 310,000 shares of unissued capital stock into ordinary, non-voting shares, of which 100,284 will be given as a capital bonus to the shareholders. The Trust will receive 100,000 of this number. Of the remainder, the Trust is given an option to buy 200,000 shares at $6.87. The Trust took up this option and resold the 300,000 shares to Benson’s at $8.75, taking $1,250,000 profit.
Public offering of the shares will indirectly benefit the Trust, since they are expected to be quoted at about $10, thereby enabling the Trust to revalue its main assets in its balance sheet and produce for the first time a clear balance sheet. It is believed that as a result of the improvement in the Trust’s position since 1932, the near future may see it a factor in the financial and economic development of Palestine.
As a result of drastic-reorganization, the Trust averted threatened bankruptcy in 1932, which would have involved the Anglo-Palestine Bank in forced liquidation.
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