Amid high demand, Yochananof raised NIS 460 million in the institutional stage of its offering at a valuation of NIS 1.85 billion, Trend with reference to Globes reports.
Supermarket chain Yochananof has made a successful initial public offering in Tel Aviv. Demand in the institutional stage of the offering yesterday reached NIS 1.5 billion, assuring the company of the amount it sought to raise, NIS 460 million, at a valuation of NIS 1.85 billion before the money. The offering was led by Orion Underwriting and Issuances.
In the first half of 2019, Yochananof's revenue rose 26% in comparison with the corresponding period of 2018. For the full year 2018, the chain's revenue was NIS 2.4 billion, 41% more than in the previous year, mainly thanks to the opening of new branches.
Yochananof, sells food and household products, was founded in 1988. Its controlling shareholders are chairman Mordechai Yochananof and three of his children: CEO Eitan Yochananof, Sarit, and Heli. Older brother Giora Yochananof, who is the chain's produce trade and procurement manager, holds no shares in the company. On the eve of the IPO, Mordechai Yochananof held 38% of the company's shares, Eitan 4%, and Sarit and Heli 19% each. Yochananof employs several other family members in junior positions.
Yochananof started out as a food wholesaler. It opened its first retail branch in Rehovot in 1992. By 2009 it had four branches in that city as well as a branch in Ashdod, and in the following years it spread more widely, from Tiberias in the north to Netivot in the south. In 2015, it bought seven branches of the collapsed Mega chain, and in May this year it opened a Jerusalem branch, bringing the total number of stores to 26, with aggregate space of some 63,000 square meters.