Rami Shavit sells New Pharm to Yair Philip for NIS 165 million

December 31, 2014   

Hamshibir 365, controlled by Rami Shavit, announced this morning (Wednesday) that it entered into an agreement yesterday to sell its entire holding (100%) in the New Pharm chain to businessman Yair Philip for NIS 165 million. Completion of the deal is subject to approval by the Antitrust Commissioner. Upon completion of the deal, the parties will sign a new cooperation agreement in the customer club area, including participation in the Cash 365 program and providing Cash Back benefits to Club 365 members, for a period of no less than 10 years. It should be recalled that Hamshibir Group reported in early November of this year that it was liquidating the operations of the Cost 365 supermarket chain, after it failed to recover, suffered from low sales turnover and heavy losses and did not come close to its goals. In this framework, the branch it operated in Karmiel was sold by Mashbhir to Rami Levy for 8 million shekels, and Mashbhir agreed to sell the remaining three branches to a group of investors who joined forces in a company founded by the chain's CEO, Nissim Hassan. The head of this group of investors is Philip, an entrepreneur in the oil sector and former business partner of the Gramzian family - a Jewish-Canadian family whose fortune is estimated at billions of dollars, and which operates in North America in the real estate sector and other fields. Philip's name recently made headlines when he came to testify in the Tel Aviv District Court as part of the trial of Jacky Ben-Zaken and Eitan Eldar, the defendants in the case of running up shares of the Manofim Financial Company. The deal to purchase the Cost 365 operation includes, as stated, 3 branches, operating in Petah Tikva, Afula and Kfar Saba, as well as branches that will open in accordance with Cost 365's lease agreements, which were signed before Mashbhir's decision to end the operation.