A year-long effort to find a buyer for the bankrupt Ata textile complex in the Haifa Bay area has come to an end. Finance Minister Yitzhak Modai announced this week that negotiations for the sale of the mills to an American businessman, Jack Nasser, have failed and arrangements are being made to pay severance to Ata’s 1,220 employes, almost all of them from the Haifa area.
The government has allocated $5.7 million for the purpose. But with so many people suddenly made jobless, the unemployment rate in the Haifa area is expected to soar above the national average.
Ata was declared bankrupt a year ago. The government placed it in the hands of a receiver whose task was to find a buyer committed to running the plant, and financially capable, without massive subsidies. Negotiations were conducted with a number of business groups here and in the U.S. but none apparently were willing or able to meet the terms set by the government.
Ata is not the only troubled enterprise in the Haifa industrial zone. The government-owned Haifa Shipyards face an uncertain future and possible demise. There are no orders for new construction and very little repair work available.
Mordechai Zippori, the government-appointed chairman of the board, tendered his resignation yesterday after only a few months in his post. He is the fourth board chairman to resign this year. Zippori said the shipyards were not receiving the support from the government they asked for and needed to remain in business.
(By Hugh Orgel)
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