Carrefour Israel Advances IPO Plans Despite Investor Hesitation

Electra Consumer Products, which holds a 49.9% stake in the Carrefour Israel retail chain, has submitted a draft prospectus to the Israel Securities Authority for an initial public offering on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange. The filing is based on the company's first-quarter 2026 financial reports. Electra Consumer Products previously estimated Carrefour Israel's valuation at approximately 900 million shekels and aims to raise around 350 million shekels through the IPO, though these figures represent the company's own assessments.

External investors previously declined to invest in the chain at a similar valuation in March. The draft prospectus has not yet been published on the stock exchange's website. The last external investment in Carrefour Israel occurred three years ago when French businessman Simon Pinto invested at a pre-money valuation of only 300 million shekels.

Carrefour Israel's IPO follows a turbulent period, including the "Basket of the Nation" campaign, an initiative intended to boost customer traffic through lower prices. However, this campaign resulted in actual losses on the basket's products and drew significant criticism on social media and in the press regarding product availability and the limited rollout to only some branches. A substantial advertising budget of tens of millions of shekels from the Ministry of Economy, intended to promote Carrefour as the cheapest chain, ultimately undermined the project's profitability.

Carrefour entered the Israeli market in May 2023, promising to be the cheapest option, a promise that proved unfulfilled. While initial operations led to heavy losses for Electra, subsequent results showed improvement, albeit with minimal profit. According to the draft prospectus, Carrefour Israel's quarterly profit was only 5 million shekels on revenue of 816 million shekels, a 2.2% decrease from the same quarter last year.

The completion of the IPO at Electra's target valuation could alleviate Carrefour Israel's debt burden of approximately 350 million shekels, the interest on which currently weighs on its operations. Electra Consumer Products is also considering selling a portion of its stake as part of the IPO to comply with concentration regulations and prevent Carrefour from becoming a third tier in the holding structure of the group's public companies. Zvika Shwimmer, CEO of Electra Consumer Products, stated, "The submission of the draft is a first step towards the possibility of an IPO for Global Retail. I hope this step will be completed."