Meir Shamir continues to try to reclaim Tnuva. Mivtach Shamir Holdings Ltd. (TASE:MISH), which he controls, reported to the Tel Aviv Stock exchange yesterday that it was interested in buying Tnuva, the largest food company in Israel, which was acquired by Chinese food giant Bright Food three years ago, and stated that it had made several attempts to buy a stake in the company. Concerning these attempts, Mivtach Shamir stated that "Bright Food responded that it was not interested in selling, and to the best of the company's knowledge this is still the situation."
Only a few months ago, Tnuva announced that Bright Food (Group) Co. Ltd. unit Bright Dairy & Food Co. had appointed Haim Gavrieli chairman of Tnuva after eight months as a director and deputy chairman of the company. Gavrieli was previously CEO of IDB Holding Corp. Ltd. from 2009 to 2016, before and after its financial collapse. Tnuva hoped that an Israeli chairman familiar with local regulation and the local market would improve its ability to deal with the challenges facing it.
Bright Food bought Tnuva from private equity firm Apax Partners and Mivtach Shamir in 2015. It currently holds 76.8% of the company, the rest of the shares being held by the kibbutzim and moshavim.
In a statement issued yesterday, Bright Food said, "Following the report in the Israeli press, Bright Food states that it has no intention of selling control of Tnuva to Mr. Meir Shamir or to anyone else. Mr. Meir Shamir approached Bright Food a few months ago on this matter and was immediately answered in the negative, and the matter is not on the company's agenda."
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on July 16, 2018
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2018