A few days after the British investment fund Apex concluded the deal to sell control of Tnuva to the Chinese company Brightfood, Apex was supposed to acquire control of Tambor, the financial website The Marker reports. The Tambor paint company is owned by Granit Carmel, which is controlled by the Azrieli Group.
But the Singapore-based investment company De Cousto Group beat it to the punch and agreed to sell Tambor in its entirety for half a billion shekels in cash (minus a 300 million shekel debt held within Tambor). A price that was about 100 million shekels higher than what Apex agreed to pay, and about 150 million shekels (43%) higher than the value at which Granite delisted Tambor from trading on the stock exchange in May 2012.
De Cousto Group will acquire Tambor without conducting comprehensive due diligence within about a month. De Cousto, for its part, will pay more than NIS 70 million as a "seriousness fee," money that will not be returned even if the deal does not go through. If the deal is completed, Azrieli Group will record a net profit of about NIS 70 million.
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This is the first entry of the 'De Cousteau Group' into Israel. The company was founded in 1997 by a group of private investors, whose roots are in Kazakhstan. The company is currently focused on Singapore, but also operates in Russia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Vietnam, China, Turkey and Georgia, in the fields of infrastructure, energy, gas, oil, building materials, civil engineering, information systems, agriculture and more.
Tambor, managed by Michael Dayan, was founded in 1936. It manufactures wall, printing and automotive paints. The company also manufactures gypsum products and materials for construction and renovation.
At the end of the first quarter of 2014, Tambor reported revenues of NIS 241 million - an increase of NIS 4.31% compared to the corresponding quarter in 2013. Operating profit rose to NIS 20 million and net profit amounted to approximately NIS 18 million.
