Yeinot Bitan

Yeinot Bitan (Hebrew: יינות ביתן‎, lit. Bitan's Wines) is a family-owned Israeli supermarket chain. Along with its own brand, it owns the Mega chain. As of 2019, Yeinot Bitan runs nearly 200 stores in Israel.

Yeinot Bitan
TypePrivate
Headquarters
Rishon LeZion
,
Israel
Key people
Nahum Bitan (owner)
Michael Luboschitz (CEO)
Nurit Bitan
Revenue₪4.8 billion (2019)
Number of employees
8200 (2019)

History

Yeinot Bitan traces its roots to 1982, when Nahum Bitan purchased a small alcohol store in Ashkelon, Israel.[1][2] In 1995, Bitan purchased a disused movie theater and converted it into a supermarket. The business proceeded to acquire small supermarket chains Hyper Rama (Hebrew: היפר רמה‎) for ₪70 million, and Yad Yitzhak (Hebrew: יד יצחק‎) for ₪121 million, in 2006 and 2007, respectively, and after the purchases counted 11 branches throughout Israel.[3][2] In 2012 Yeinot Bitan purchased yet another chain, Kim'at Hinam Stores (Hebrew: מחסני כמעט חינם‎), with 35 branches, more than the brand Yeinot Bitan itself, and a similar revenue.[1] The acquisition, valued at ₪350 million, was made possible by a ₪50 million loan from the selling party, and Yeinot Bitan invested an additional ₪70 million to renovate Kim'at Hinam's branches.[3][2]

Mega acquisition

On June 30, 2015, it acquired Mega (Hebrew: מגה‎), one of the largest and oldest supermarket chains in Israel, active in city centers, for ₪455 million.[3][4][5][6] The chain had had about 120 branches, bringing Yeinot Bitan's total to over 180, and making it the second-largest in Israel by number of branches.[3][4][5][6] This purchase included Mega's Haredi-oriented chain, Zol BeShefa (Hebrew: זול בשפע‎), later renamed Shuk Mehadrin (Hebrew: שוק מהדרין‎). In order to fund the acquisition, Yeinot Bitan sold real estate worth over ₪100 million and took on debt likely amounting to hundreds of millions from Bank HaPo'alim, Bank Mizrahi-Tefahot and Harel Group, among others.[4][3][5][6][7] The joint chain was ordered by the Israel Antitrust Authority to sell multiple branches as a condition for approving the merger, but the chain failed to do so on time, and received a ₪26 million fine.[3]

In 2017, the Yeinot Bitan brand (not including Mega) spun off its 23 city-center branches into a new branch, Yeinot Bitan in the City.[4] The year 2017 proved difficult for the chain and its owners, having disagreements with suppliers, a branch closure due to sanitary problems, and liquidity issues, among others.[3][8] That year, the chain's owner Nahum Bitan was investigated by the Israel Police for bribery vis-à-vis the mayor of Kfar Sava. He had previously been investigated for the same charge with the mayor of Ashkelon, but the charges had been dropped.[3] In August 2019, Yeinot Bitan settled a class action lawsuit regarding the 2017 sanitary issues, which would see it provide discounts to all customers for a time.[8]

2019 cash crunch

In September 2019, to deal with cash flow issues, Yeinot Bitan sold 7 branches, most of them in Tel Aviv, to Fresh Market.[9] In October of the same year, five more branches were sold to Victory for ₪80 million.[10] In January 2020, two further branches, including its branch at Jerusalem's Malha Mall, were sold to Victory.[11]

Also in January, Yeinot Bitan announced a ₪500 million investment, not yet completed, from Klirmark Capital, a Tel Aviv-based private equity fund.[12] In February, Nahum Bitan stepped down as CEO in favor of Michael Luboschitz, and the company committed to appointing a board of directors. These steps are believed to be linked to the investment.[13]

Business and management

As of 2019, Yeinot Bitan was the third-largest supermarket chain in Israel by revenue and second biggest by number of branches, with 185 branches, ₪4.8 billion in revenue, and 8,200 employees.[14] Its headquarters are in Rishon LeZion, Israel.[4] It operates stores under multiple brands: Yeinot Bitan, Yeinot Bitan in the City, Mehadrin Market (geared at the Haredi public) and Mega BaIr.[3]

Yeinot Bitan is run primarily by the Bitan family. Nahum Bitan heads the company, with his wife Nurit being co-owner. Nahum's brother Efi manages operations, his daughter Elinor is the legal adviser, and his son-in-law manages the import of household items. Yossi Bitan, Nahum's son, is deputy CEO.[3]

See also

References
  1. Kalian, Gil (July 11, 2012). "בלעדי ל"כלכליסט": עובדים בכמעט חינם קיבלו הודעה על מכירה ליינות ביתן" [Calcalist Exclusive: Kim'at Hinam Employees Received Message About Sale to Yeinot Bitan]. Calcalist (in Hebrew). Retrieved December 13, 2019.
  2. Horesh, Hadar (February 1, 2018). "נחום ביתן מתכונן לאתגרי העתיד: "אני לא צריך מותג פרטי"" [Nahum Bitan Readies for Future Challenges: "I don't need a private label"]. Walla! (in Hebrew). Retrieved December 13, 2019.
  3. Moses, Shani; Ma'anit, Hen (January 26, 2018). "חידת ביתן: מה מסתתר באימפריה הקמעונאית שבנה נחום ביתן" [Bitan Mystery: What Hides Behind the Retail Empire Built by Nahum Bitan?]. Globes (in Hebrew). Retrieved December 13, 2019.
  4. Kadosh, Nurit (September 19, 2017). "נחום ביתן מעלה מחירים עם רשת עירונית חדשה" [Nahum Bitan Raises Prices with New City Chain]. Calcalist (in Hebrew). Retrieved December 13, 2019.
  5. Dovrat-Mazritz, Adi (June 30, 2016). "נחתם הסכם לרכישת מגה: האם המחירים בערים יוזלו?" [Mega Acquisition Deal Signed: Will the Prices in the Cities Drop?]. TheMarker (in Hebrew). Retrieved December 13, 2019.
  6. Kristal, Meirav (February 14, 2017). "יינות ביתן השיקה רשת למהדרין חדשה-ישנה" [Yeinot Bitan Inaugurated an Old-New Chain]. Ynet (in Hebrew). Retrieved December 14, 2019.
  7. Kadosh, Nurit (September 4, 2019). "עובדי מגה לנחום ביתן: תמכור את הסניפים שלך" [Mega Employees to Nahum Bitan: Sell Your Branches]. Ynet (in Hebrew). Retrieved February 11, 2020.
  8. Raz-Haimovich, Michal (August 27, 2019). "עקב ליקויים תברואתיים: סניף יינות ביתן בעתלית יפצה לקוחות באמצעות הנחות" [Following Sanitary Shortcomings: Yeinot Bitan's Atlit Branch To Compensate Customers By Means of Discounts]. Globes (in Hebrew). Retrieved December 14, 2019.
  9. Zomer, Navit (September 23, 2019). "נחום ביתן מוכר 7 סניפים לפרשמרקט ב-110 מיליון שקל" [Nahum Bitan Sells 7 Branches to Fresh Market for ILS 110 Million]. Ynet (in Hebrew). Retrieved December 10, 2019.
  10. Hazani, Golan (October 30, 2019). "נחום ביתן מוכר 5 סניפים נוספים של הרשת תמורת 80 מיליון שקל" [Nahum Bitan Sells 5 More Branches of the Chain for ILS 80 Million]. Ynet (in Hebrew). Retrieved December 14, 2019.
  11. Moses, Shany (January 27, 2020). "Victory buys two of Yenot Bitan's largest branches". Globes. Retrieved January 29, 2020.
  12. Moses, Shany (January 30, 2020). "Klirmark Capital to invest over NIS 500m in Yeinot Bitan". Globes. Retrieved February 11, 2020.
  13. Moses, Shany (February 26, 2020). "Nahum Bitan forced out as Yeinot Bitan CEO". Globes. Retrieved February 26, 2020.
  14. "מסחר – רשתות שיווק מזון" [Trade – Food Marketing Chains]. Coface BDI. 2019. Retrieved December 13, 2019.
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