Yigal Tabori sells Jafora-Tabori stake for NIS 120m

Kerur Holdings has bought the soft drinks company's shares at a company value of NIS 800 million.

Kerur Holdings Ltd. (TASE: KRUR), controlled by Ronnie Gat and Shlomo Rodav, is increasing its exposure to the domestic soft drinks market by acquiring the minority stake in its sub-subsidiary, Jafora-Tabori. The deal reflects an NIS 800 million company value for Jafora-Tabori.

Kerur holds 70% of Jafaora, the parent company of Jafora-Tabori, with the remainder of the shares belonging to Clal Industries and Investments Ltd. (TASE: CII) controlling shareholder Len Blavatnik. Up until now, Jafora itself owned 85% of the shares in soft drink manufacturer Jafora-Tabori and 76.5% of the shares in its marketing companies (Tabori Marketing and Jafora Marketing).

In the current deal, Jafora will buy Yigal Tabori's minority holdings in both Jafora-Tabori and the marketing companies for NIS 120 million, giving Jafora complete ownership of all of them.

Kerur published its 2014 financial statements last week, showing an NIS 82.3 million net profit for Jafora-Tabori, while the two marketing companies posted an aggregate NIS 18.4 million net profit.

The aggregate net profit attributable to the minority holdings in Jafora-Tabori and the marketing companies totaled NIS 14.8 million, meaning that the deal reflects a net profit multiple of 8 for 2014, almost unchanged from 2013.

Jafora and Tabori were two soft drink manufacturers founded in Israel in the 1930s. Jafora built a plant for producing orange juice in Rehovot, while Yaakov Tabori and Yissachar Taboriski founded a plant that manufactured beverages under the Cristal label.

The two companies merged in 1990, leading to the founding of the Jafora-Tabori company, which currently produces a variety of brands, including Spring, Spring Tea, Tapuzina, Cristal, Paz juices, RC Cola, Schweppes, and more. Jafora-Tabori and Kibbutz Ein Gedi are also equal partners in the Ein Gedi mineral water company.

In addition to its shares in Jafora, Kerur, traded at an NIS 820 million market cap, also holds 37.74% of frozen chips manufacturer Tapugan. Last month, Kerur reported that its partners in Tapugan had been offered NIS 158.3 million for their 62.3% stake in Tapugan, apparently by Kedma Capital, led by Gilead Halevy.

The offer reflected a NIS 250 million company value for Tapugan, and Kerur must decide whether to exercise its first refusal rights to the shares by buying its partners shares at the deal price, or to join its partners - the Sharon family and Topap Industries, controlled by Kobi Porat - by selling its shares.

In a recent response letter, however, Kerur claimed that an offer making a sale of shares by one shareholder contingent on the company also buying the shares of the other shareholder is impossible, and therefore announced that it was seeking to exercise its first refusal rights, but only partially, by buying half of Topap's current 26% stake in Tapugan, which would give Kerur a controlling interest in that company.

Kerur's partners in Tapugan announced that they opposed the offer.

Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on March 25, 2015

© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2015

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