Avraham Well

Partner

Mr. Well is the head of FBC’s Corporate practice.  With over 30 years of experience, he is ranked by international and domestic indices as one of Israel’s premier corporate attorneys, specializing in M&A, capital markets, banking & finance, corporate governance, securities regulation and debt restructuring.

Mr. Well has been involved in numerous high-profile M&A transactions, including representing:

• the Government of Israel in the privatization of major banks in Israel


• Eurocom Group in the acquisition of the controlling interest in Bezeq for NIS 6.5 billion


• Bright Food Group in the acquisition of the controlling interest in Tnuva at a company value of NIS 8.6 billion (the largest Chinese investment in Israel)


• Bank Leumi and the Azrieli Group in the US $658 million sale of major credit card company Leumi Card to the Warburg Pincus private equity funds


• Centerbridge Partners and Gallatin Point Capital in the NIS 1.7 billion acquisition of The Phoenix Insurance


• Rafael Advanced Defense Systems and Avihai Stolero in the NIS 850 million acquisition, through a reverse triangular merger, of Aeronautics


• Clal Industries in the NIS 700 million sale of 50% stake in Taavura Holdings to Leumi Partners and The Phoenix


• Israel Discount Bank and Mercantile Bank in the NIS 670 million merger with Dexia Bank


• Jerusalem Economy in a statutory merger with Industrial Buildings Corporation (valued at NIS 7 billion)

Mr. Well has been involved in the majority of Israel’s most significant restructurings, aggregating to over NIS 20 billion of debt and he is the first and only Israeli private sector member of the International Insolvency Institute.

Mr. Well is frequently consulted by major Israeli regulatory agencies to develop and comment on proposed legislation and regulations, and appears frequently at conferences organized by the Israeli Securities Authority and the Israeli Official Receiver. He was selected as a member of a committee appointed by the Ministry of Finance to examine the regulatory framework of tailor-made lending by institutional investors.

Mr. Well represented the Association of Banks in Israel before a parliamentary committee of inquiry regarding the banking sector in Israel (the “Cabel Committee”), the Association of Insurance Companies in Israel in a corporate governance reform (vis-à-vis the Capital Markets Commission), and the Association of ETF Issuers in negotiations with the Israeli Securities Authority regarding regulatory reforms in the ETF sector.

Prior to joining FBC, Mr. Well served as general counsel of the Clal Group, then the largest holding concern in Israel. Mr. Well has been on the faculty of Israel’s two premier law schools – The Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the Tel-Aviv University - where he teaches courses on securities law and M&A.  Mr. Well served as a law clerk to Prof. Aharon Barak, the former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, and was the editor of the Mishpatim Law Review at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.