After being collectively owned for over 50 years, Kibbutz Yehiam sells 51% of its holdings in the Yehiam Delicatessen Factory for the production of sausages and pastrami, to the Green Lantern Foundation, owned by Richie Hunter. The scope of the deal is estimated at NIS 140 to 165 million. Green Lantern’s share of the investment is made through a recently funded food investment fund, following a number of successful investments made by the Green Lantern team in the food sector.
Yehiam Delicatessen was established in 1969 in Kibbutz Yehiam in the Western Galilee. The company is a manufacturer, marketer and seller in Israel and abroad of kosher pastrami, salami and sausages in a wide variety of flavors, coatings and packaging forms. From its inception until today, the company has developed and grown while maintaining the full ownership of Kibbutz Yehiam. Distribution of products using the ‘free-basket’ method – orders and deliveries from today to tomorrow in all sales channels – national, regional chains, various sectors, institutional market, private customers, IDF bases, from Metula to Eilat, in an independent logistics and distribution system, standards and services, all The goods are fresh in cold temperature.
In order to maintain independence from the group, while controlling the decisions and results, a managerial separation was made in 1993 between the group that established the factory and instilled in it traditions and values of work, belonging and commitment and the continuously changing market and the important and permanent. In order to ensure independence and independence, a separate board of directors was established for the company, while maintaining an external chairman and professional directors. The goals were and still are: customer satisfaction, welfare and livelihood for employees, profit for the company’s growth and well-being, the security of the founders, members of Kibbutz Yehiam. Since the 1980s, the company has steadily developed its export markets, and currently more than 20% of the company’s products are exported by sea to kosher and strictly kosher markets in the United States under the Hod Golan brand and through the bagel-bates logistics and distribution system. In Europe – France, England, Italy and Hungary in various brands including – La Grange – a premium brand owned by Yehiam Delicacies, in the kosher market in France. The company as a manufacturer and exporter of meat delicacies is committed to a high standard of commitment to ISO, GMP, FSSC and more while maintaining international standards.
In 2012, Yehiam Delicacies acquired the American company Abeles & Heymann – which produces 100% strictly kosher meat delicacies. The company, which was founded and operates in New York since 1954, has a variety of products without preservatives, reduced fat and salt. H&A sells its products to Jewish audiences in Greater New York and from June 2020 marks a breakthrough when it began and intensified its sales in the general market, to a diverse consumer audience in national chains including Costco, BJ’S, Trader Joe’s and more.
According to Yochai Ne’eman, CEO of Yehiam Delicatessen: “The kibbutz has decided to find a strategic partner that together will accelerate the company’s growth in the coming years. A partner who can lead rational changes while being creative, investing and being open in the common half. This time we were convinced that the two are better than the one and if the two are also bigger than the one – we won. ” According to him, most of the proceeds will be used to cover deficits and repay debts, thus providing economic security that will ensure the future of the kibbutz’s veterans, including members who are among the kibbutz’s founders who fought for the place, built the kibbutz and established the Yehiam deli.
On behalf of Green Lantern, the investment was led by the three partners: Richie Hunter, Danny Ben Rei and Yosef Eliash, who stated that, “We have 5 investment principles and they are: a popular brand for consumers, a leading company in its field, good profitability, good and fair partners and growth potential – And Yehiam Delicacies meets them all! We are proud to be partners of Kibbutz Yehiam, its founders and successors and to work side by side with the company’s management and employees, to whom we were exposed and impressed as experts, determined and perhaps even more as a group who wants to learn and is aware of the benefits of connection, marketing, diversity, And the integration with other companies in the Green-Lantern group. ”