Israel's Clal sells 55 pct of cement unit to Livnats

TEL AVIV Feb 12 (Reuters) - Holding company Clal Industries agreed to sell a 55 percent stake in Mashav Initiating & Development, the parent of Israeli cement monopoly Nesher, to the Livnat family for 1.32 billion shekels ($355 million).

Clal will also reap 45 million shekels from a dividend Mashav will distribute prior to the deal, the company said in a statement on Sunday. It expects to post a capital gain of 750 million to 850 million shekels while its parent company IDB Holding Corp will post a gain of 400 million to 500 million shekels.

As part of the deal, which is subject to regulatory approval, Clal will receive an option to sell its remaining 20 percent stake in Mashav to the Livnats.

The Livnats are part of the group that bought a controlling interest in IDB in 2003. Zvika Livnat is Clal Industries' co-CEO.

The controlling group in IDB is led by businessman Nochi Dankner and also includes the Manor family. The parties agreed that the Livnat family would sell its 13.3 percent stake in IDB to Dankner and the Manors within four years.

"We decided to sell a significant asset to improve the IDB group's financial position and increase its liquid reserves," Dankner said in a statement.

The sale is in line with the group's strategy to simplify IDB's structure, exit certain sectors and invest more abroad, he said. This strategy has been accelerated in the past year in the wake of a government committee's proposals to increase competition in the Israeli economy by breaking up some conglomerates.

IDB owns 60.5 percent of Clal, whose holdings also include Hadera Paper , retailer Golf & Co, Clal Energy and Clal Biotech.

($1 = 3.72 shekels) (Reporting by Tova Cohen)