Alon Israel Oil Co. Ltd. (Alon Group) has rejected the offer made yesterday by David (Dudi) Wiessman to buy its Alon Holdings Blue Square Israel (NYSE: BSI; TASE: BSI) holding, at a company value of NIS 850 million to NIS 1 billion.
Alon Group is a privately held company, owned by Beilsol (53%) and the Kibbutz Movement (47%), and which owns Blue Square, Blue Square Real Estate Ltd. (TASE: BLSR), Alon Natural Gas Exploration Ltd. (TASE: ALGS), and Alon USA Energy Inc. (NYSE:ALJ). Beilsol is owned by Shraga Biran (80%) and David Wiessman (20%).
Alon Blue Square, which has a market cap of NIS 715 million, owns Blue Square Real Estate, the Mega supermarket chain (which is dragging the company down on account of losses), gas company Dor Alon, and Naaman.
Wiessman has made an offer to buy Alon Group's holding in Alon Blue Square (72%), excluding debt, the most significant of which is a debt of NIS 450 million to Bank Hapoalim.
Although the Mega supermarket chain is dragging the company down, Blue Square Real Estate is considered particularly good company. Blue Square Real Estate deals in residential construction, and income-producing real estate, and has a market cap of NIS 1.516 billion. In the first nine months of 2014, Blue Square Real Estate had a net profit of NIS 91 million.
Alon Group said in response, "Alon Blue Square is not up for sale. The subject is not on the agenda."
"The new management is focusing on the development of Blue Square and improving its value, and it is reasonable to assume that its value is much higher than the value on which Mr. Wiessman's offer is based."
David Wiessman declined to comment on the report.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on February 11, 2015
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