Rami Levy, the founder and controlling shareholder in retail supermarket chain Rami Levy Chain Stores Hashikma Marketing 2006 Ltd. (TASE:RMLI), is planning an initial public offering on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE) for Rami Levy Real Estate, which hold his private real estate assets and has an estimated gross valuation of about NIS 3 billion. Sources inform "Globes" that Levy and his associates have already met with underwriters regarding a planned IPO in the first half of 2021.
Rami Levy's retail supermarket chain has enjoyed major growth this year in his core supermarket chain as well as his pharmacy (Good Pharm), cafe (Cofix), and Rafi Levy Communications (mobile phones) subsidiaries. The parent company has a market cap of NIS 2. 8 billion on the TASE. The supermarket chain has 52 branches and 7,200 employees.
The value of his holdings and the dividends, shares and assets he has realized from his eponymous company have made Rami Levy one of Israel's wealthiest people.
Levy is now eager to add value to his private real estate assets as part of his arrangements to pass on assets to his family. The valuation of the company he plans offering to the public could reach about NIS 1.5 billion with the property itself worth about NIS 3 billion, less the debt taken for its purchase.
Although there are many IPOs currently taking place on the TASE, the offering of an income producing real estate company, a sector which has been badly hit by the Covid-19 pandemic, would go against the grain.
Unlike the supermarket chain, which bears his name, most of Rami Levy's real estate operations are 'under the radar' and less known by the public, even though they are very extensive. These activities include the supermarkets themselves and adjoining income-producing activities, commercial centers and shopping malls as well land and development and construction activities of hundreds for apartments and various holdings and partnerships.
Much of the revenue generated by Rami Levy's income producing properties comes from the rent paid by his supermarket chain, which is estimated at NIS 40 million per year.
Well-known Rami Levy assets include the Mevaseret Zion shopping mall, which contains a large Rami Levy supermarket, while in previous years he was a partner in the infamous Holyland residential project in Jerusalem together with the Dan Bus Cooperative, purchasing his stake the project after a stay-in-proceedings. He also has a partnership with Zahi Nahmias called Mega Or Rami Levi, which manages and leases commercial and logistics centers. Last year this partnership won an Israel Land Administration tender for 11 lots covering 46,000 square meters for industry and workshops in the new Beit Shemesh industrial zone. Levy also owns 20% of a ZMH Hammerman commercial center in Beit Shemesh, buying his stake in 2017 for NIS 36 million.
Rami Levy declined to comment on the report.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on August 25, 2020 © Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2020