Israeli Court Approves Fashion Chains Onot and Jump for Sale and Restructuring

The Tel Aviv District Court has authorized the trustees of the Israeli fashion chains Onot and Jump to continue operating the businesses temporarily to facilitate their restructuring and sale. The trustees, lawyers Yosef Benkel and accountant Yitzhak Idan, submitted a plan to close 3 to 4 of the 35 stores by July 2026, aiming to improve financial viability. They also plan to reduce staff by five employees, mainly from the closing branches, leaving about 95 employees from August onward.

The court approved the trustees' request to market the companies as ongoing concerns, allowing them to invite offers for acquisition or investment. The trustees argue that halting operations now would rapidly diminish the companies' value due to damage to reputation, customer trust, and operational continuity. Maintaining active operations is seen as the best way to preserve value and attract buyers or investors, maximizing returns for creditors.

Onot and Jump filed for court protection after accumulating debts of approximately 38 million shekels against assets worth about 34.8 million shekels. Their financial distress stems from multiple factors including declining revenues, shrinking profitability, challenges adapting cost structures, impacts of security conditions on retail, and the loss of founder Yoav Shamir, which created a management void. The chains operate jointly with a nationwide store network and shared management, operational, and logistics systems.

A court hearing is scheduled for Tuesday to discuss the trustees' updated operational plan and other requested orders. The trustees aim to expedite the sale process to leverage the chains' extensive operational infrastructure and geographic reach to find suitable investors or buyers as soon as possible.