The Haifa District Court Judge Bettina Tauber has granted permission to the trustees of “Sher Fitness” to publish an invitation for proposals for the purchase of the company, including its activities and assets such as the brand, reputation, and trademark. The request was made because there are no funds in the company’s coffers and its debts to creditors amounts to at least NIS 24 million. The judge did not accept the objection of the controlling owner, Shir Sanda, who has been accused of using company funds to promote the Sher Fitness brand. The transfer of the trademark is subject to the approval of the trademark registrar. The temporary trustees have been appointed to sell the company and its assets, including the Sher Fitness brand. Employees of the chain can contact the National Insurance to file a debt claim.
Haifa District Court Judge Bettina Tauber today (Tuesday) acceded to the request of the trustees of “Sher Fitness” and authorized them to publish an invitation in which to make proposals for the purchase of the company, its activities and assets, including the brand, reputation and trademark – Sher Fitness. In doing so, the judge did not accept the objection of Shir Sanda, the controlling owner of the company.
The judge stated that as part of the negotiations that the trustees will hold with potential buyers, it will be clarified by the temporary trustees that the transfer of the trademark is subject to the approval of the trademark registrar.
The judge also determined that “in order for the temporary trustees to enrich the company’s coffers even a little and allow for the payment of dividends to the creditors in this case, it is indeed crucial to put the company and/or the company’s activities and/or the network branches and/or the ‘Sher Fitness’ brand up for sale already At this stage, it can be lamented that the shareholder who at the beginning of the procedure repeated and stated that all she wants to do is to restore the company and pay its debts to creditors, she is taking such and other steps that are not intended to burden the activities of the temporary trustees and to hinder the maximum recovery of the debt or at least part of it to her creditors, including to the employees of the company and for training”.
The judge’s decision also revealed that “the investigation of the shareholder and her husband shows that the promotion of the brand was financed by the company throughout the years of the company’s activity and at the expense of the company and the creditors. In this context, it is sufficient to refer to the testimony of Idan Meti (the husband of Shir Sanda – LD) with regard to the promotion The Sher Fitness brand, as part of a thanksgiving party held by the shareholder for the birth of her son, an event that, according to Meati, was intended to return customers to the company after the Corona crisis and after the shareholder’s illness at a cost of about one million shekels and which was financed entirely from the company’s funds, one of many events that express the confusion they have created The shareholder and her husband have little in the company’s assets and their assets,” the judge noted.
The trustees, Attorney Hanit Nove from Nove, Kesner, Shanir & Co. and CPA Ishan Yasser from Tahsin Awad et al., stated in their request that “as of the date of the request, there are no funds in the company’s coffers, and on the other hand, the extent of the debts declared to the company’s creditors amounts to At least NIS 24 million. Moreover, the company does not have significant assets to pay off debts to creditors, and its main asset is the company’s reputation, among other things through the SHER FITNESS brand.”
The trustees further claim that an inspection they conducted at the trademark registry showed that the mark SHER FITNESS was registered by the controlling owner, Shir Sanda, at the trademark registry. According to the trustees, “since the brand ‘Sher Fitness’ is part of the company’s reputation and its assets, the temporary trustees turned to the controlling attorney and asked for her formal consent to the addition of the trademark to the company’s assets nominated for sale, since Mamla is a personal guarantor for most of the company’s debts, but she opposed and insisted on this that the brand will not be sold as part of the company’s assets. The controlling owner has personally guaranteed the company’s debts to its creditors in the amount of approximately NIS 16 million. Even if the controlling owner’s claims are accepted and it is determined that the brand is her personal property, then in light of her personal guarantee for a significant portion of the company’s debts to its creditors, she will have to provide The brand is for sale as part of its assets.”
1 Viewing the gallery
Adv. Ofir Ronan
(Photo: Nadia Ponchatz)
Therefore, the trustees, through attorneys Tahsin Awad and Shani Greenberg, requested that “in order for the trustees to enrich the company’s coffers and increase the rate of dividends to the creditors in the case, to put the company and the brand up for sale already at this stage. Any attempt by Shir Sanda to oppose the sale of the brand by the trustees will result in a substantial and critical delay and will hinder any possibility of rehabilitating the company through its sale.”
As part of the discussion of the trustees’ request, the temporary trustee, Adv. Hanit Nov, stated that “there is no separation between the personal and the business. The brand that was built was done at the expense of the company. No, Mrs. Sanda paid marketing and advertising costs.” Sanda responded and said: “I disagree with her opinion.”
The trustee replied: “If we need this discussion, we will prove this confusion between the private and the company. In fact there was no private expenditure, every private expenditure was taken out of the company. There is no private expenditure that did not come out of the company, which funded the private lives of the owner of the company and her husband and therefore was actually funded by According to the company, their creditors owe NIS 24 million.
Sher Sanda’s husband, Idan Meti, said in the discussion: “It is important for me to say that we cooperate and want to sell the chain. We do not know who Sher Sanda is. We know her as Fitness Minister. This is her identity and you cannot sell a person’s name.”
At this stage of the discussion, Shir Sanda erupted when, in her loyal position, she incorrectly presented her affairs to the media as someone who sought to flee the country. Sanda strongly rejected this claim.
Attorney Lirom Sanda, attorney for Shir Sanda, pointed out to the judge that the trustee “does not have the authority to act and exercise the trademark that is written privately on the identity card legally and religiously. It is not possible to trade in the name and persona of Sher Fitness. As I emphasized and I will emphasize again, we are ready to cooperate and we want to cooperate and we have the same interest that it would be possible to restart the network.”
Later, Shir Sanda was asked by the trustee attorney Hanit Nov: “What was your salary?”.
Sanda: “I don’t remember. It has changed a lot over the years.”
The trustee: “How much did you earn in 2020?”.
Sanda: “I don’t remember.”
The trustee: “You don’t know?”.
Sanda: “Not only do I not remember my husband managed all the affairs.”
During the discussion, attorney Ofir Ronan, who represents some of the employees in the network, stated that “For the employees, the most urgent thing is payment of salary for the month of February and March and continued employment. We request that a court issue an order to open proceedings.”
Judge Bettina Tauber determined at the end of the hearing that at the trustee’s request, an order was issued to initiate proceedings for Sher Fitness. This means, among other things, that the employees will be able to contact the National Insurance and file a debt claim.
Attorney Ofir Ronan, who represents employees of the chain, stated in response that he supports the trustees’ request to sell the company’s assets and operations, including the chain’s brand, so that the company’s employees will have the opportunity to continue working in the chain’s branches with the entity that will buy the chain’s operations and assets.