Shufersal, Israel's largest retail chain, continues to grow through acquisitions. The deal this time is the purchase of 60% of Mini Line, an importer of electrical goods and the owner of electrical goods store chain ALM, for NIS 560 million, a price that values Mini Line at NIS 936 million.
Shufersal, headed by chairperson Yaki Vadmani and CEO Itzik Abercohen (who recently announced his retirement), said the acquisition of Mini Line was in accordance with its strategy of expanding its retailing business and of entering complementary areas. The sellers are private investment company Allied, headed by Itzhak Swary (40%), Avi Asher (40%), and Bank Leumi (20%).
Mini Line is the official importer of home electrical products from Samsung, AEG, and Electrolux. It also sells air conditioners from Japanese brand Fujitsu, and operates the ALM chain of electrical and electronic goods stores, which has 42 branches.
Shufersal will have an option to buy, within three years of completion of the deal, the remaining shares in Mini Line at higher of the valuation in the current deal and at ten times the company's net profit, while the sellers will have a put option to sell their shares to Shufersal at the lower of these two values. Shufersal will have a majority on the board of directors of Mini Line and will appoint the chairperson. Avi Asher will be CEO of Mini Line for at least the next three years.
The deal is still subject to a due diligence examination by Shufersal and the signing of a detailed, binding agreement, which will require approval from the Competition Authority.
Shufersal has a current market cap of NIS 8 billion, after a rise of almost 50% in its share price in the past two years. On Monday this week, its share price shot up by almost 10%, leading to assessments of a large buyer of its shares.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on February 3, 2022.
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd., 2022.