Dead Sea cosmetics maker Ahava to be sold for 290 mln shekels

Shareholders in Dead Sea cosmetics manufacturer Ahava have reached a deal to sell the company for 290 million shekels ($77 million), one of its investors said on Thursday.

B. Gaon Holdings expects the deal to be signed in the next few days, it said in a statement. It did not name the buyer but a source close to the transaction told Reuters it was China's Fosun International.

No-one at Fosun immediately replied to emails and phone calls requesting comment.

Ahava, which manufactures skin care products from Dead Sea minerals and mud at a plant in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, has been the target of pro-Palestinian groups who have called for a boycott of its products. The company has said it may move its plant from the West Bank.

In February Fosun, one of China's most aggressive global dealmakers, dropped a plan to buy a controlling stake in Israeli insurer Phoenix Holdings because conditions for the 1.8 billion shekel deal were not met.

It was a setback for the Chinese conglomerate after its chairman, Guo Guangchang, briefly went missing late last year, before the company issued a statement saying he had travelled to the United States. Yet the Ahava deal would be the latest sign the company, which has interests in sectors ranging from pharmaceuticals to mining, remains hungry for deals.

A source familiar with the matter said last month Fosun was set to close a deal worth about 300 million pounds ($426 million) to buy the Thomas More Square complex in London in its biggest real estate transaction in Europe.

Other shareholders in Ahava include Shamrock Israel Growth Fund, part of the Disney family's Shamrock Holdings of California, and the Livnat family, according to Ahava.

Gaon, which holds 15 percent of Ahava, said it will post a gain of 18 million shekels if the deal goes through.

$1 = 3.7806 shekels