Israel Chemicals files confidential prospectus for U.S. share sale

Israel Chemicals has filed a so-called confidential, or secret, prospectus with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission ahead of a planned offering of shares in New York next month.

The shares, equal to a 5% stake in the company, will be sold by its parent company, Idan Ofer’s The Israel Corporation, for about 1.8 billion shekels ($503 million). Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs are managing the sale of the shares, which will trade on the New York Stock Exchange.

Filing a confidential IPO has been permitted since Congress passed the 2012 Jumpstart Our Business Startups (JOBS) Act for companies with less than $1 billion of annual sales or, as in the case of ICL, which is already trading on another bourse – the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange.

The secrecy only applies to draft versions of the prospectus, which enables companies that qualify to avoid disclosing information or withdraw the planned offering until they have tested investor interest and are formally ready to conduct the securities sale.