Barclays Hotels, controlled 100% by Moti Green, disclosed in its bond prospectus that Green is a key figure whose knowledge, expertise, experience and connections significantly affect the company. But it did not initially report that Green is currently on trial in a criminal tax case, in which prosecutors may seek actual prison time.
The company is developing the Atlantis project at the Dead Sea, a 110,000-square-meter complex for retail, conferences, exhibitions, hospitality and dining, with an estimated value of NIS 1.1 billion. It wants to raise NIS 400 million through a bond issue, with proceeds intended to repay NIS 137 million in bank loans due at the end of this month and in September, loans personally guaranteed by Green, plus a NIS 5 million loan at 9.38% from a nonbank lender and a NIS 10 million loan from another private company owned by Green. The rest will help finance continued development of the project.
Until 2015, Green was known as Ronen Mordechai Ibgui. In June 2023, the Tel Aviv District Taxation and Economics Prosecutor’s Office filed an indictment accusing him of tax offenses allegedly committed from 2012 to 2018, involving tens of millions of shekels. According to the indictment, he carried out real estate deals in Israel while falsely claiming his center of life was in England, not Israel, to obtain capital gains tax exemptions. He is also accused of hiding his time in Israel by entering and leaving the country illegally using foreign passports, filing false tax returns, and concealing information about his stay and business activity. He was arrested by the Tax Authority in 2019, released under restrictions, and his trial is still underway at the Tel Aviv Magistrate’s Court.
The Israel Securities Authority requires prospectuses to disclose recent economic-crime investigations or indictments involving a company, its controlling shareholder or senior officers within the previous three years. Since the indictment was filed in June 2023 and Barclays filed its prospectus in May this year, the article says the company appears to have violated those rules. The bonds are set to pay 5% interest, mature in one payment in July 2030, and be secured by a lien on the company’s development rights in the Dead Sea project. Barclays says it has finished the conference and exhibition areas and some retail space, but has generated no revenue from them by the end of 2025. It expects to complete the rest by 2030.
In 2025, the company booked NIS 126 million in accounting profit attributable to shareholders, mainly from revaluation gains tied to construction progress, but it also reported a NIS 89 million working-capital deficit and a continuing operating cash-flow deficit, leading it to flag warning signs while saying it can still meet obligations for the next two years. Its equity stood at NIS 739 million at the end of 2025, against financial liabilities of about NIS 100 million. Green also controls public company Gensell, owns the City of Kings complex in Eilat through the Barclays group, and sold the Dead Sea Mall to Rani Zim in 2023 for NIS 152 million. Barclays said its lawyers believe no disclosure obligation existed because the criminal case is personal and unrelated to the company, but it chose to include broad disclosure in the prospectus and says it coordinated the wording with the Securities Authority.
