Electra Consumer Products (TASE: ECP), of the Elco Holdings Ltd. (TASE: ELCO) group, reported this morning that it had signed an agreement for the purchase of the controlling interest in family-owned supermarket chain Yeinot Bitan. Electra Consumer Products will buy 35.05% of the shares in Yeinot Bitan for NIS 194 million, of which NIS 143 million will be against an allocation of shares and NIS 50 million will be through the purchase of shares from Nahum and Nurit Bitan.
At the same time, The Phoenix Holdings Ltd. (TASE: PHOE1;PHOE5) will buy 15% of the shares in Yeinot Bitan, bringing The Phoenix and Electra Consumer Products' total stake in Yeinot Bitan to 50.05%. The Bitan family will continue to own the rest of the sharers. The deal is subject to several conditions, among them approval by the Competition Commissioner and by the banks.
Under the agreement, Electra Consumer Products will take over the day-to-day running of the Yeinot Bitan chain, and will be entitled to a majority on the board of directors. Electra Consumer Products has also received an option to buy the Bitan family's shares.
When the deal is completed, Electra Consumer Products will extend a six-year NIS 50 million loan to Yeinot Bitan, bearing annual interest of 6%.
Electra Consumer Products CEO Zvi Shwimmer said today, "The deal to acquire Yeinot Bitan is part of the process of implementing Electra Consumer Products' business strategy, whereby the company is acting to expand its activity in retail. Yeinot Bitan's assets will become part of Electra Consumer Products' food retailing and convenience store arm, alongside which we intend to develop a new arm that will focus on leisure and sport, following the acquisition of control of Saar, which operates the Columbia, Outdoor and Shvilim chains in Israel."
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on May 5, 2021
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