Shaul Elovitch

Shaul Elovitch
Born	1949 (age 65–66) Poland
Residence	Israel
Occupation	Investor
Known for	Owner of Eurocom Group

Shaul Elovitch (Hebrew: שאול אלוביץ'‎; born 1949, Poland) - a Polish-born Israeli businessman and the owner of Eurocom Group, one of the largest private holding groups in Israel.^[1]

Background

Shaul Elovitch was born in 1949 in Poland and made aliyah to Israel when he was two years old. He grew up in Tel Aviv and married at the age of 20. In 1968, shortly after completing his military service, he joined his father-in-law's small business of installing intercoms and television antennas and importing telephones. For a time he studied law but did not complete the requirements for the degree, preferring instead to devote himself to his business pursuits.^[2][3]

From R.A.P. to Eurocom

As manager of his father-in-law's company, R.A.P., the young Elovitch was also involved in the distribution of products by a telephone manufacturing company called Eurocom. Eurocom was established in 1979 to take the place of a telephone plant that had operated with Israeli partnership in Iran until Ayatolla Khomeini's rise to power. In 1985, Elovitch acquired Eurocom.^[4]

Partnering with Tadiran, Elovitch became the exclusive distributor in Israel of Panasonic's line of office appliances, including telephones, fax machines, xerox machines, and printers, through Eurocom Marketing (1986) Ltd. Next, in 1993, Elovitch signed a distribution deal with Nokia making him their exclusive distributor in Israel. A year later Cellcom entered Israel's cellular network arena and became a client of Eurocom's Nokia phones, and together the two rivaled Pelephone's Motorola-based dominance of Israel's mobile phone market.^[5]

Bezeq acquisition

After various attempts to establish himself in Israel's communication sector since the late 1990s, including a failed move to compete with Bezeq through a company named Ofek, in 2009 it was reported that Shaul Elovitch was seriously contemplating the acquisition of either Bezeq or Partner Communications Company. Later that year it was announced that Elovitch had opted for a deal with the former.^[6][7][8] On 14 April 2010 the ownership of Bezeq was transferred from the Apax-Saban-Arkin group to an indirect subsidiary of Eurocom, B Communications.^[9]

References

1. "Eurocom Group" (PDF). Coface. BdiCoface. Retrieved 15 November 2011.
2. Sadeh, Shuki (28 August 2009). משכיר לאימפריה: המסלול העסקי של שאול אלוביץ' [From employee to empire: the corporate path of Shaul Elovitch]. TheMarker (in Hebrew). Retrieved 14 November 2011. הוא גדל בתל אביב הקטנה של שנות ה-50 וה-60, ובימי נעוריו החל לצאת עם מירה פרונאי, שעמה התחתן בגיל צעיר.
3. Peretz, Gad (25 October 2009). "10 דברים שלא ידעתם על שאול אלוביץ'" [10 things you never knew about Shaul Elovitch]. Globes (in Hebrew). Retrieved 14 November 2011. אלוביץ' למד משפטים, אך לא השלים את התואר כי העדיף להתרכז בניהול ר.א.פ.
4. "Shaul Alovitz - Eurocom". Globes. 19 December 1999. Retrieved 15 November 2011.
5. Kurz, Amir (6 September 2010). סתם, כי בא לו לדבר [For no reason other than he likes to talk]. Calcalist (in Hebrew). Retrieved 17 November 2011. אלוביץ', עם תדיראן שנכנסה איתו אז כשותפה ב־50%, החל לשווק בארץ באופן בלעדי מוצרים של פנסוניק היפנית באמצעות יורוקום שיווק: טלפונים, מרכזיות, פקסימיליות, מכונות צילום, מדפסות, מחשבים וכו'.
6. "Eurocom's Elovitch mulls Bezeq or Partner acquisition". TMCnet.com. Globes. 31 May 2009. Retrieved 15 November 2011.
7. "Elovitch's straight flush". TheStreet.com. TheMarker. 13 November 2001. Retrieved 25 November 2011.
8. Teig, Amir (23 October 2009). "Elovitch to buy Bezeq". Haaretz. Retrieved 15 November 2011.
9. "B Communications Closes Acquisition Of Controlling Interest In Bezeq - Quick Facts". RTTNews. 14 April 2010. Retrieved 15 November 2011.