Unilever Israel is about to merge part of its detergent activity, Lever Israel, with its subsidiary, Tami Bestfoods. The merger will reportedly have a substantial impact on the balance of forces in the food market.
Unilever has a 51% stake in Strauss Ice Cream. The Strauss family owns Elite Industries, Tami Bestfoods' competitor. Tami Bestfoods is equally owned by Unilever and South African food corporation Robertson (CGP).
Consequently, rivals Tami and Elite are about to indirectly become part of the same group. Under the circumstances, Antitrust Authority director general Dror Strum is imposing severe restrictions on the cooperation between Tami Bestfoods and Elite/Strauss.
In response to a question by "Globes", Tami-Israel Edible Products general manager Ron Guttmann (who has also been appointed chairman of Unilever Israel) did not rule out the possibility of a future merger of Tami Bestfoods and Elite's activity, if the necessary legislative groundwork was prepared.
Commenting on the possibility of cooperation between Tami Bestfoods and Elite, Strum told "Globes", "If applications are submitted, we'll examine them and decide accordingly. In the past, there were cases in which a merger was not approved, then later a decision was made to approve it."
Published by Israel's Business Arena on 29 July, 2001