After protracted negotiations lasting more than a year, the Green Lantern investment group has acquired a 49% stake in Gad Dairy, at a company value of about NIS 300 million. Gad Dairy CEO Ezra Cohen, who owns the company, will continue to control Gad and manage the dairy.
The motivation behind the investment is to develop the company in the US and Europe, recognizing that potential growth in Israel is limited.
The Green Lantern group is owned by Richard Hunter, Josef Elias, and Danny Ben-Rei. Hunter was previously CEO of McCann Erickson Israel, and before that CEO of supermarket chain Shufersal and of Netvision. Elias formerly owned a network of schools in Sweden that was sold five years ago to a European venture capital group, and he currently advises two European funds. Ben-Rei was formerly with consultants McKinsey.
Gad Dairy, the fourth largest player in Israel's dairy market, is a family company that has been producing cheese for decades. Cohen opened its first dairy in 1980. Gad Dairy specializes in cheese from cows' milk: salted cheese, mainly white cheese; hard cheese, such as Caciocavallo, and cream cheese spread. Over the years, the company has also developed goat cheese products. It recently also began marketing hard cheese produced overseas for the company, while taking advantage of the customs duties exemption for hard cheese.
Despite being only the fourth largest dairy in Israel, Gad Dairy is an important player in its niches. Its innovation has enabled the company to maintain a 8% growth rate in 2015. The company's annual sales turnover is believed to be NIS 370 million (before VAT). Financial data are not published, but the company's operating profit margin is estimated at 10%
In December 2015, the Green Lantern group together with a consortium of international investors bought 50% of Super Cofix, the neighborhood minimarket format of Cofix Group.
Eighteen months ago, Green Lantern, together with other investors, bought 45% of the Holmes Place gym chain, and received a golden share to manage it.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on June 8, 2016
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