Canadian-Israeli businessman David Azrieli is the last tycoon standing in the race to buy the Cerberus-Gabriel Capital group's interest in Bank Leumi.

Other potential contenders saw their fortunes flattened by the global economic crisis, leaving Azrieli, 86, the lone bidder in the tender that the two hedge funds held Thursday for their 9.7% interest.

Azrieli apparently won a 4.8% interest in the bank with a bid of NIS 736 million. He may pursue negotiations with the Cerberus-Gabriel group to buy their remaining 4.9% interest, through an option.

The official result of the tender will only be issued tomorrow.

Azrieli is best known in Israel for building malls, including the landmark Azrieli Center office and shopping complex in Tel Aviv, with its three towers - one round, one square and one triangular. He also recently bought the Ramat Aviv Mall from Lev Leviev's Africa Israel.

Cerberus and Gabriel had been forced to sell their Leumi stake, which is a noncontrolling one, following the global downswing and the havoc wreaked by fraudster extraordinaire Bernard Madoff. Among the $50 billion that Madoff made off with, somehow, was enough of Gabriel Capital's assets to force that fund's dissolution. The two funds were also slammed by the trouble in the American mortgage and car sectors.

Azrieli is paying NIS 10.50 per share, which values Bank Leumi at NIS 15.5 billion, roughly equivalent to its present market capitalization on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange. Leumi shares have risen 55% in less than two months. But even so, the price is far from what Cerberus-Gabriel paid - NIS 17.50 per share in 2005.

Other names that had been bruited about as potential buyers for the Cerberus-Gabriel stake included Nochi Dankner of IDB, Yitzhak Tshuva of Delek, Shlomo Nehama - formerly the chairman of Bank Hapoalim, and the Apax fund (which owns Tnuva and Bezeq, among other things).

The fact that Azrieli found himself the sole runner indicates how seriously the global economic crisis has impaired the ability of Israel's leading businessmen to borrow. Another hindrance in the specific case of hawking Bank Leumi is that the state still retains the controlling interest, and there's no telling what it means to do with it.

"People had gone mad," Azrieli told TheMarker in late 2008, when asked where the real estate barons had gone wrong. "We don't do things we don't understand, and we don't borrow too much," he added.

Indeed, while many of Israel's other leading holding companies are being forced to divest assets in order to repay debt - witness Africa Israel's sale of the Ramat Aviv mall - Azrieli has been buying. In December 2008 he also bought the Givatayim Mall and 20% of Leumi Card.

Cerberus-Gabriel remains with a 4.9% stake in Leumi, which the group also intends to to sell. Whether Azrieli will buy it is another matter.

At the time, Cerberus-Gabriel paid NIS 2.5 billion for its Leumi stake. Since 20005 it has received about half a billion shekels in dividends. Its loss on the sale to Azrieli is therefore NIS 250 million. But its loss on the remaining 4.9% stake amounts to another half-billion shekels, on paper.

The state is the biggest shareholder in Leumi, with 11.46% of its shares. The second-biggest shareholder is Shlomo Eliahu, who owns the Eliahu insurance company, with a 9.6% stake. Otzar Hityashvut Hayehudim owns 3.5% and real estate magnate Alfred Akirov owns about 2.5%.

Azrieli, married with four children, is considered one of Israel's most conservative businessmen. Forbes estimated his fortune at about $2.1 billion in 2008. Aside from shopping centers and his stake in Leumi Card, he owns the controlling interest in Granite Hacarmel, which in turn owns the Sonol chain of gas stations.

He has long wanted a holding in finance, and had once considered buying Discount Bank. But he may be frustrated in any effort to obtain official permission to buy a controlling interest, if only because of his age: he celebrates his 87th birthday this month.

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