Agrexco
| Partnership: Israeli government (50%), the Production and Marketing Boards (25%) and the Tnuva cooperative (25%) | |
| Industry | Exporters of agricultural produce |
| Founded | 1956 |
| Headquarters | Tel Aviv, Israel |
|
Key people
|
Yaacov Tsur, Chairman of the Board |
| Products | Vegetables, Flowers, Fruits, Plants |
| Revenue |
 €560 million (2006) |
|
Number of employees
|
500 employees in Israel and overseas (2006) |
| Website | www.agrexco.co.il |
Yaacov Tsur, Chairman of the Board
Shlomo Tirosh,
Agrexco Agricultural Export Company Ltd. (trading as Carmel Agrexco), was Israel’s largest exporter of agricultural produce, with the European Union one of its major markets. Agrexco went into liquidation on August 2011 with debts of €175 million ($217 million), mainly owed to its bondholders that were mostly Israeli Institutional investors. In 2011, the Israeli court approved the offer of Gideon Bickel and Chen Lamdan to purchase the Company for 17.6 million ILS in cash and 24.4 million ILS contingent on future performance of the Company.
The name "Agrexco" comes from the English words "Agriculture Export Company". "Carmel" is the internationally recognized brand name used by Agrexco for fresh produce exports from Israel.
Agrexco was established in 1956
Agrexco was formerly a state-owned company, with 50% of its stock held by the State of Israel, 25% by the Israeli Production and Marketing Boards, and 25% by Tnuva. In August 2008, the Israeli government approved a privatization program for Agrexco, stipulating that at least 51% of Agrexco's stock should be tendered to private investors. This decision follows in the wake of the recently completed transformation of Tnuva from a cooperative owned by Israeli farmers (kibbutzim and moshavim) to a private company owned by Apax Partners. In 2007, Agrexco marketed 435,000 tons of fresh agricultural produce with a turnover of €653 million. This consisted mainly of vegetables (47%), cut flowers (19%), and fruits (14%). In addition to exporting the produce of Israeli farmers inside the Green Line and in West Bank settlements, Agrexco is the main export channel to Europe for Palestinian fresh produce from Gaza (carnations, strawberries, cherry tomatoes, vine tomatoes), which is marketed under the Coral brand name.
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Wikipedia