A court in Tel Aviv, Israel gave its approval for a ILS2 billion or $570 million debt settlement offer that will give a group led by Argentine tycoon Eduardo Elsztain control of IDB Holding Corp, Bloomberg reported. The district court gave the parties 15 days to appeal the decision. Judge Eitan Orenstein said in the ruling, "The report on the investors met disclosure requirements and showed that they can meet commitments for debt restructuring."

Preliminary approval for Elsztain's offer for IDB, one of the largest holding firms in Israel, was given by the court on December 17 over a bid by IDB Chairman Nochi Dankner and Alexander Granovsky, an investor. The final approval was given by the court on the condition that investors, which included Moti Ben-Moshe of Extra Holding, provide watchdogs further financial information, the report said.

The report quoted Ben- Moshe as saying that the battle has finished. He added, "There is immense potential in IDB and room for increasing value to holders." Before trading of the company's shares was stopped in anticipation of the court's decision, IDB's shares had rallied 25%.

IDB has indirect control of Israel's largest mobile phone provider, Cellcom Israel Ltd, as well as the country's biggest supermarket chain, Shufersal Ltd. According to the report, its financial started after an unprofitable bet on a hotel project in Las Vegues, a share purchase in Credit Suisse and local regulations to bolster the competition of the country's mobile phone operators.

A cash injection amounting to ILS 876 million is part of the debt plan proposed by Elsztain. The plan will also include ILS 650 million deposited by Germany-based Extra into an escrow account. The process will be overseen by Hagai Ullman and Eyal Gabbai, court advisers who were appointed by Orenstein.

Since July 2008, Ben-Moshe has been the Chairman of Extra. He was previously involved in a private equity fund that backed new technologies as well as renewable energies, the report said.