Yeinot Bitan

Mega acquisition

On June 30, 2015, it acquired Mega, one of the largest and oldest supermarket chains in Israel, active in city centers, for ILS455 million. The chain had had about 120 branches, bringing Yeinot Bitan's total to over 180, and making it the second-largest in Israel by number of branches. This purchase included Mega's Haredi-oriented chain, Zol BeShefa, later renamed Shuk Mehadrin. In order to fund the acquisition, Yeinot Bitan sold real estate worth over ILS100 million and took on debt likely amounting to hundreds of millions from Bank HaPo'alim, Bank Mizrahi-Tefahot and Harel Group, among others. The joint chain was ordered by the Israel Antitrust Authority to sell multiple branches as a condition for approving the merger, but the chain failed to do so on time, and received a ILS26 million fine.

In 2017, the Yeinot Bitan brand (not including Mega) spun off its 23 city-center branches into a new branch, Yeinot Bitan in the city. The year 2017 proved difficult for the chain and its owners, having disagreements with suppliers, a branch closure due to sanitary problems, and liquidity issues, among others. That year, the chain's owner Nahum Bitan was investigated by the Israel Police for bribery vis-à-vis the mayor of Kfar Sava. He had previously been investigated for the same charge with the mayor of Ashkelon, but the charges had been dropped. In August 2019, Yeinot Bitan settled a class action lawsuit regarding the 2017 sanitary issues, which would see it provide discounts to all customers for a time.

2019 cash crunch

In September 2019, to deal with cash flow issues, Yeinot Bitan sold 7 branches, most of them in Tel Aviv, to Fresh Market. In October of the same year, five more branches were sold to Victory for ILS80 million. In January 2020, two further branches, including its branch at Jerusalem's Malha Mall, were sold to Victory.

Also in January, Yeinot Bitan announced a ILS500 million investment, not yet completed, from Klirmark Capital, a Tel Aviv-based private equity fund. In February, Nahum Bitan stepped down as CEO in favor of Michael Luboschitz, and the company committed to appointing a board of directors. These steps are believed to be linked to the investment.

Acquisition

In May 2021, Electra Consumer Products acquired the Yeinot Bitan Group and its 152 supermarkets, buying 50.05% (35.05% by ECP and 15% by its financial partner, Phoenix) of the shares for ILS 194 million, and gaining a large foothold in the groceries market.

In 2022, the French retail chain Carrefour signed a franchising agreement with Electra Consumer Products under which Yeinot Bitan would rebrand itself under the Carrefour name.[1]

In April 2023, before the launch of the Carrefour branding, Yeinot Bitan changed its name to "Global Retail K.Y. Ltd.", and in May, 50 of its franchises were converted to 3 Carrefour formats—3 being "hypermarkets", and the rest being "supermarkets" and "city markets".