The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development signed an agreement today with the Israeli Dead Sea Works, Ltd., (Mifalai Yam Hamelah, B.M.) for a loan equivalent to $25, 000, 000 to help finance expansion of the company’s production facilities at Sodom, the Southern end of the Dead Sea.
The largest expansion, according to officials of the World Bank, will be in the production of potash, one of the three basic fertilizers. The present production of about 150, 000 tons a year will be increased to nearly 600, 000 tons annually.
Total costs of the expansion project in Israel will be about $70, 000, 000. A large portion of that capital will be provided by the company with a new stock issue and retained earnings. An issue of shares valued at 27, 000, 000 Israeli painds ($15,000, 000), underwritten by a syndicate of Israeli banks headed by the Bank Leumi L’Israel, has been completely taken up.
The loan had been approved by the Bank’s executive directors on June 15. The signing awaited completion of the share issue. The bank loan is for a term of 15 years and bears interest at the rate of 5-3/4 percent per year, including the one percent commission which is allocated to the bank’s special reserve. Amortization will begin November 15, 1966. The loan is guaranteed by the Government of Israel.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
