Gaydamak buys controlling interest of Willifood

Just four days after the demise of his Tiv Ta'am deal, businessman Arcadi Gaydamak has purchased 45 percent of the Willifood import and distribution company, owned by Yossi and Zvika Villiger.

The deal, which was finalized on Friday, gives Gaydamak controlling interest of the company, leaving the Villiger brothers with 8 percent. The remainder of shares is held by institutional and public investors.

The Villiger brothers are expected to stay on and run Willifood for the next five years.

Gaydamak bought in for about 60 percent over the company's market value, currently estimated at NIS 233 million (about $55.5 million). He paid about NIS 170 million for his shares, as if the company's worth was $90 million.

Willifood incorporates three companies, traded in three of the world's stock markets: Willifood Investments, controlled by the Villiger brothers is traded on the Tel Aviv stock exchange.

The company has a subsidiary and a sub-subsidiary: Willifood G. International, traded on the NASDQ and its subsidiary – Gold Frost, traded on the London stock exchange.

Willifood now holds $65 million in assets, ending the first quarter for 2007 with a 31 percent growth in sales, adding up to NIS 71 million.

"This was a good deal," Zvika Villiger told Ynet Sunday. "I got the impression that Gaydamak is driven by true concern – he wants to take pork out (of the markets) and allow Israelis to eat kosher foods.

"He told me he's driven by the fact that millions of Jews throughout history have been murdered because they insisted on keeping kosher and not eating pork," added Villiger.

"It's important to him that the company is successful, so when we can go international, it would allow him to use his contacts with the Jewish communities abroad, mainly in Russia."

The negotiations, said Villiger, were rapid. "You have to remember we have a subsidiary which trades in the US markets according to $90 million and another one traded in the London AIM according to $40 million, so our premium wasn't as high as people think."

"We currently hold $65 million, and just inaugurated a new, $11 million logistics center," he added. "We intended to branch out even further."

The company has its eye on the kosher food market in the US, reportedly worth $15 billion a year. Willifood recently went into business with the Baron family, which specializes in exporting kosher foods to Jewish communities world-wide.