Israel’s dairy war is heating up. Sources inform “Globes” that a delegation of senior Super Sol (Pink Sheets: SSLTF; TASE: SAE) executives left last week on a visit to four European countries. Super-Sol hopes to promote parallel imports of dairy products, including leading brands, such as Groupe Danone (NYSE: DA; XETRA, Paris: DANO).
Super-Sol executives, led by head of marketing and trade Shlomo (Shlomi) Gindi, met with a number of leading food manufacturers In Italy, Denmark, Greece, and Turkey. Super-Sol is trying to import directly products made by Danone, which owns 20% of Strauss Dairies, including Actimel. Super-Sol wishes to import products through Delta Holdings, which holds a Danone franchise for Greece.
Partners in Delta Holdings include Danone and Arla Foods (60%). Arla Foods is the parent company of butter and cheese brands Puck, Lurpak, and Three Cows, which Super-Sol plans to import directly by air from Greece to Israel, starting on the Shavuot holiday in May.
Super-Sol will offer a full range of delicatessen and cheese items, including hard and white cheese, a field controlled by Tnuva. Super-Sol will also import cheese from Italian company Parmalat through that company’s franchise holder in Argentina. In addition to dairy products, Super-Sol is aiming at parallel imports of the world’s best-known brands of Italian pasta.
Sources also inform “Globes” that Blue Square Israel (NYSE: BSI; TASE: BSI) is also trying to import dairy products directly, mostly from the US. Blue Square is using the purchasing connections of chairman and controlling shareholder David Wiessman, who also owns the 7-Eleven chain in the US.
Blue Square is also planning parallel imports of Nestle’s Taster’s Choice freeze-dried coffee, thereby bypassing Osem Investments (TASE: OSEM) controlling shareholder Nestle (SWX: NESN), which owns the brand. Blue Square hopes to import Taster’s Choice through Nestle’s franchise holder in Mexico.
Super-Sol declined to respond to the report. Osem said that the matter should be checked. No response was available from Blue Square.
Danone said, “Danone will not permit the sale of its products in Israel in any way, except through its partnership with Strauss.”
Published by Globes [online] - www.globes.co.il - on March 24, 2004