Orgad Holdings head Eli Orgad wants to buy ACE Marketing Chains (ACE Israel) from Adv. Lipa Meir, the receiver for Zeevi Holdings. However, there has been no progress in the sale since January. Orgad Holdings is the Israeli franchisee for Burger King.
No action has been taken on the sale in recent months, even though the sale tender for ACE Israel was begun around the same time as the sale of IKEA Israel. IKEA Israel has already been sold to Matthew Bronfman at a company value of NIS 164 million. However, the sale of ACE Israel has been moribund.
One reason for the lack of progress in the tender is negotiations between First International Bank of Israel (TASE: FTIN1;FTIN5) and Shlomo Zbeda, who owns 25% of ACE Israel, but claims to own 37%.
Candidates for ACE Israel have not yet entered the information rooms to verify the company's financial figures. The candidates for the company are Benjamin (Benny) Gaon, Ituran managing director Eazy Sheratzky, and Orgad.
Burger King Israel reportedly had NIS 90 million in sales in 2004. Since it acquired the franchise, Orgad has carried out a thorough streamlining of Burger King Israel, while the franchise's turnover has shrunk from NIS 140 million under its previous under, Meshulam Riklis. The franchise was losing heavily and had an NIS 80 million debt at the time of its sale, causing the receiver to sell it to Orgad for NIS 20 million.
Since acquiring Burger King Israel, Orgad has closed four money-losing branches, and opened four new ones. The chain now has 43 branches, with 1,000 employees, only ten of whom work at the company headquarters managed by Yuval Orgad.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes.co.il - on April 4, 2005