IKEA to Add Branch in Beersheva

After clearing legal hurdles, the IKEA furniture and housewares chain has succeeded in purchasing land in Beersheva for the construction of its fourth branch in Israel, Globes reported on Tuesday.

The Bronfman-Fisher group, which owns the Swedish-owned IKEA franchise for Israel, won a pricing procedure dispute for the purchase of 18 acres of land in Beersheva, to add to its existing stores in Netanya, Rishon Lezion and Kiryat Ata.

The land purchase was made possible by a High Court ruling in favor of IKEA over a competing company, Blue Sky, which had been awarded the lot without allowing IKEA a chance to submit a counter bid, as it had requested in the event of a competing buyer. IKEA had already put in a provisional bid before Blue Sky entered the picture, with the provision that it would be given the opportunity to revise its bid to meet a higher one.

When Bronfman-Fisher learned that Blue Sky had obtained rights to the land, it filed a request for cancellation of the sale.

The High Court upheld a decision of the Beersheva District Court which determined that the owners of the land had acted with unjustified haste in closing the deal with Blue Sky.

The latter’s appeal to the High Court, arguing that it had acted in accordance with the law and that cancellation of the sale would cause it 5–10 million shekels in damages resulting from the need to find an alternative property, was rejected by the judges.