The coronavirus cabinet last night agreed to move ahead with a Ministry of Health pilot program for the reopening of 15 shopping malls around the country. The malls will open tomorrow and during a pilot period to December 6, inspectors will monitor adherence to health safety instructions and whether they are effective.
Under an agreement with the government six of the malls will belong to Israel’s two largest companies- Azrieli Group Ltd. (TASE: AZRG) and Melisron Ltd. (TASE: MLSR), who will choose which malls they want to open. Gazit-Globe Ltd. (TASE: GZT; TSX: GZT), which operates G Malls and was also meant to be part of the arrangement for the large companies was pushed out at the last minute.
The Ministry of Economy and Industry will conduct a draw today to choose the other nine malls, with major attention paid to an equal geographical distribution of the malls that will open. There will be three draws for Jerusalem and the South, Tel Aviv and the Center, and Haifa and the North, with three malls opened in each region.
Published by Globes, Israel business news – en.globes.co.il – on November 26, 2020
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