Koor, a subsidiary of IDB Holding Corp, said on Sunday it now held 23.7 million shares, down from 26.3 million earlier this month, for which it had paid 3.81 billion shekels. The stake was valued at 4.63 billion shekels at the current market price, it said.
The company said on Aug. 11 it had lowered its stake in the Swiss bank to 2.22 percent from 2.47 percent.
Koor had held as much as 3.4 percent of the bank earlier this year, making it the third-largest shareholder before it began reducing its stake.
Last month, it reversed that trend and began buying shares. In June, IDB chairman and chief executive Nochi Dankner told Reuters that Koor planned to rebuild its stake in the bank.
But in August Koor began selling again.
Including the latest transaction, Koor booked gains of 2.54 billion shekels from the Credit Suisse share sales including 1.5 billion in the second quarter and 305 million in the third quarter.
The company said it would continue to invest in Credit Suisse by taking advantage of opportunities to buy and sell and it intended to remain a significant shareholder in the bank.
Koor's board has approved an investment of up to 6 billion shekels in Credit Suisse.
In June, Koor said it planned to invest up to 3.5 billion shekels in French retailer Carrefour SA. It already holds a 0.25 percent stake in the world's second-biggest retailer, having paid 284 million shekels for the shares.
($1=3.82 shekels)
(Reporting by Tova Cohen; Editing by Jerry Norton) Keywords: KOOR CREDITSUISSE/ (telaviv.newsroom@reuters.com; +972-9-899-0222; Reuters Messaging: tova.cohen.reuters.com@reuters.net) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2009. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.
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