Wellborn Capital buys 45% stake in shipping co BHM

BHM founders and owners Zvika Bar Haim and Amir Mangad credit: Dror Binyamin

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As part of the deal, owners Zvika Bar Haim and Amir Mangad will sell half of their holdings (in equal parts), while at the same time Wellborn will inject capital into the company in order to support the expansion of activities.

Wellborn Capital, an investment company owned by Tzvika Sobel and part of the Morris Kahn family, is investing about NIS 10 million in Israeli shipping company BHM for a 45% equity stake. The investment will be carried out by allocating new shares in order to inject capital to support expansion of the company’s activities and acquiring half of the shares from BHM's two founders and controlling owners, Zvika Bar Haim and Amir Mangad

BHM specializes in the management and provision of solutions throughout the international logistics chain of the shipping industry. The company provides shipping services by sea, air and land, dropshipping, customs brokerage, as well as land shipping via the UAE - a service that has become critical since the signing of the normalization agreements by some of the UAE states with Israel and the Covid crisis, which temporarily closed the maritime trade routes from China.

BHM was founded in 2016 by Bar Haim and Mangad who met during their employment at A.D. Aviation Services, the representative company of the Global GSA Group, which belongs to the Flying Cargo Group, the Israeli shipping company belonging to brothers Avi and Dany Reik who subsequently sold the company to German shipping giant DHL.

During their work together the pair decided to set out on their own with the aim of providing international companies with more efficient shipping services, emphasizing full transparency and personal service tailored to the needs of each and every customer. The company, which has a lean administrative headquarters, recorded revenue of NIS 30-40 million last year, and has grown consistently every year. Bar Haim and Mangad each own 50% of the company's equity.

As part of the deal with Wellborn Capital, the two owners will sell half of their holdings (in equal parts) while at the same time Wellborn will inject capital into the company in order to support the expansion of activities. The overall value of the deal, the purchase of the founders' shares and the injection of capital into the company's coffers is about NIS 10 million. After the deal, the two founders will remain with a combined 55% of the company's shares.

The aim of Wellborn and the two BHM founders is to allow the company to realize its increasing growth potential, among other things, by expanding the customer base and making it accessible to larger customers; to give the company financial strength to support its ability to carry out mergers and acquisitions in order to optimize the shipping process from end to end, as well as to strengthen its relations with the banking system in order to make it easier for it to receive lines of credit. The company now has about 50 large regular customers.

Wellborn's investment in BHM is being made through one of the company's two investment arms. The second arm is the venture capital fund, Wellborn Ventures, which has so far invested in a number of Israeli technology companies in the seed and early-stages, and currently has invested in about 15 different technology companies.

Businessman and philanthropist Morris Kahn (94) is one of Israel's richest people with estimated wealth of $1.1 billion, according to the latest Forbes rankings. Kahn built his fortune from the founding of the Golden Pages and Amdocs companies. Over the last two decades, Kahn has mainly focused on social and community ventures.

Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on June 3, 2024.