Eli Elya is a partner at Gornitzky & Co, and leads Gornitzky’s banking and finance practice.
Eli advises Israeli and International lenders and borrowers on all aspects of lending transactions. Eli focuses primarily on lender side finance transactions for both banks and other financial institutions on domestic and cross border transactions across sectors and products, including secured bilateral and syndicated loans, acquisition finance, real estate finance, asset and project finance, mezzanine loans as well as debt restructurings. Eli has acted for the banks on most of the large financings in Israel in recent years.
Alongside his banking practice, Eli advises foreign and domestic high net worth clients on matters of personal domestic and international taxation.
Eli is consistently recommended by The Legal 500 who has noted him as an “Extremely effective dealmaker” and “sophisticated at corporate finance deals”.
Recent notable banking and finance experience includes:
- Representation of Bank Hapoalim B.M. (as arranger and original lender) and other syndicate members (Bank Discount, First International Bank of Israel and Clal Insurance) in the NIS 2,000,000,000 financing of Bright Food (Group) Co.’s buyout of Israeli food company Tnuva, the largest financing ever of a Chinese purchaser in Israel and one of the largest transactions in Israel in recent years;
- Representation of Bank Hapoalim Ltd. and Mizrahi Tefahot Bank Ltd. in phases 1 and 2 of the “Wholesale Market” real estate financing in an aggregate amount of NIS 3,500,000,000 , one of Israel’s largest mixed use real estate developments ever;
- Representation, together with Clifford Chance, of two Israeli financial institutions on a cross-border EUR 40 million syndicated mezzanine loan to AFI Europe N.V., a Dutch subsidiary of AFI Properties Ltd. (TASE:AFPR) secured on shares in a Cypriot subsidiary which in turn holds a Romanian company that owns AFI Palace Cotroceni, a shopping mall located in Bucharest, Romania;
- Representation of three Israeli lenders in a major debt restructuring of a large group of retail companies.
- Representation of Bank Hapoalim B.M. (as arranger and original lender) and other syndicate members in a NIS 600,000,000 loan to Mashav – Initiating and Development Ltd., a company controlled by Clal Industries Ltd., which holds Nesher Israel Cement Enterprises Ltd., Israel’s sole producer of cement;
- Representation of Bank Hapoalim, the lender in three simultaneous real-estate financings amounting to NIS 250,000,000 of Neptune Hotel Ltd., Sella Capital Real Estate Ltd. and Issta Properties Ltd. involving cross holdings and a sale and leaseback arrangements;
Tax
Eli also has extensive experience in tax planning. Since the beginning of his career Eli has been advising foreign and domestic high net worth clients on matters of personal domestic and international taxation and regulatory matters.
Australia practice
Over the years Eli has also developed a unique expertise in advising on all aspects of inbound investment from Australia and provides the full range of legal services including tax planning, corporate and securities, regulatory and local financing. Amongst others, Eli advises non-Israeli controlling shareholders of The First International Bank Ltd., Israel’s fifth largest bank.
