Shemen Industries Ltd. (TASE:SHMN) is about to acquire Remedia from Heinz (NYSE:HNZ) and Moshe Miller for NIS 20 million. Heinz owns 51% of Remedia, and Heinz Remedia founder Moshe Miller owns the other 49%. The deal will not include Food d’or Trade Ltd, the tuna manufacturing and marketing company, which is partly owned by Heinz.
Although Heinz-Remedia Ltd. could have been sold separately, the deal is for all Heinz Israel Ltd.: Heinz Remedia Ltd. and Heinz Remedia Industries Ltd., which produce, market, sell and support dairy substitutes and porridges; Heinz Foodline Marketing Ltd., which markets Heinz food brands in Israel, including ketchup, mayonnaise, mustards, StarKist tuna and Yona tuna; and Shekdia Geva Industries Ltd.
Shemen Industries is also acquiring Heinz Foodline Marketing, which markets StarKist and Yona tuna, even though StarKist’s representative in Israel, StarKist Food D’or Trade Ltd., has the manufacturing and marketing rights for Heinz's StarKist and Yona brand tuna in Israel. Heinz owns 51% of StarKist Food D’or. StarKist Israel managers Michael Mittleman and Oded Gross own 49%.
Heinz initiated the sale of its Israel operations in a process resembling a tender, after a period of informal negotiations. At least five offers were made to Heinz representatives, who came to Israel to hear them. The interested parties entered the information rooms to receive financial information about all Heinz Israel companies.
Atuna.com received the following comment from Heinz USA: “While Heinz does not normally comment on inaccurate speculation, we feel compelled to clarify that StarKist Food d’Or is an independent company, with no association with Heinz Remedia. Heinz owns a partial ownership position in both, but they are totally separate. SKFD is the largest canned fish producer in Israel, and there are no negotiations concerning a change in ownership of the company.â€