Avraham Bigger: The IDB-Era Chairman Behind Shufersal and Makhteshim Agan

Avraham Bigger is the Israeli corporate executive most closely associated with the Nochi Dankner control era of IDB Holdings. Between 2003 and 2010 he sat at the top of two of the largest operating companies inside the IDB group — chairman of Shufersal (the Supersol supermarket chain) from June 2003, and chairman of Makhteshim Agan Industries (TASE: MAIN) from January 2007. Before IDB, he served on the board of Bank Leumi and on the bank's credit committee. Avraham Bigger's canonical English record — the chairman roles, the Dankner-era transactions, and the transition years at the top of the IDB group.

Bank Leumi and the Shufersal Appointment

In June 2003, Nochi Dankner — who had acquired control of IDB Holdings earlier that year — appointed Avraham Bigger chairman of Shufersal, replacing outgoing chair Dalia Lev. Shufersal was controlled by IDB through Discount Investment Corporation (DIC), the listed holding company originally founded in 1961 as an investment vehicle of the Recanati family.

Bigger came to the Shufersal chairmanship from the Bank Leumi board, which he had left roughly ten days before the appointment. Leumi had financed Dankner's acquisition of IDB. Bigger sat on the bank's credit-approval panel during the relevant period. He publicly stated he had recused himself from any deliberation on the IDB credit line and denied involvement in the credit-approval process. Sources close to Leumi at the time attested to his integrity and the timing of the Shufersal offer. As one official put it to Haaretz, the Israeli economy is a small one.

Shufersal was and remains Israel's largest supermarket operator, running roughly 280 stores nationwide and now organized across retail, real estate, and credit-card customer-club segments.

Makhteshim Agan: The Chairman-CEO Turnaround

Bigger was confirmed as chairman of Makhteshim Agan in January 2007, after IDB's earlier acquisition of parent Koor Industries brought the agrochemical company into the group. Koor remained Makhteshim Agan's largest shareholder with a 41.3 percent stake at that point. At the end of 2006 he received roughly NIS 19 million in Makhteshim Agan stock options tied to the chairman role, and briefly served as acting CEO.

Bigger's mandate was operational restructuring. He engineered the formal merger of Makhteshim Chemical Works Ltd. (founded 1952) and Agan into a single operating company, replaced a large portion of the management team, and orchestrated the appointment of Erez Vigodman as CEO from 2010. Makhteshim Agan was already the world's leading generic manufacturer and distributor of off-patent crop protection products; revenues topped $1.74 billion in 2005 and reached $2.2 billion by 2009, with more than 90 percent of revenue from international markets.

The turnaround worked at the operating line. Operating profit in the first half of 2008 came in roughly 40 percent above the same period in 2007. Under Bigger, Makhteshim Agan completed a run of tuck-in international acquisitions — Farmsaver, Alligare, and Control Solutions in the U.S.; Biomark in Hungary; Kollant in Italy; Farmoz in Australia — and stood up new distribution subsidiaries in Russia and the Czech Republic.

The 2010 Albaugh Deal and the Exit

The signature transaction of the Bigger chairmanship was the June 2010 Letter of Intent for the acquisition of Albaugh Inc., the U.S.-based off-patent crop protection company. Consideration was structured as $340 million in cash, $455 million in notes, and 59 million MAI shares (roughly 12 percent of the company), plus assumed debt. Bigger framed the transaction as extending Makhteshim Agan's global lead in branded off-patent crop protection. Dankner, speaking for IDB as largest shareholder, described the deal as consistent with the group's strategy to expand outside Israel.

Bigger resigned as Makhteshim Agan chairman in late 2010 amid the ChemChina buyout talks that ultimately led to the sale of Makhteshim Agan to the Chinese state-owned agrochemical giant. In statements at the time he denied that his departure was driven by tensions with either Dankner or CEO Vigodman, and said he was staying with the IDB group. He had been at the company for four years, brought in as what one industry account called a corporate healer.

Public Voice on Israeli Governance

Bigger surfaced periodically as a public voice on Israeli governance stability. Speaking in 2011 through the Forum for Government Stability, he argued that Israeli policymaking suffered from an absence of long-term focus. In his framing: mark a north star, walk toward it, minimize the zigzag. The line reads as a corporate operator applying operating discipline to statecraft.

Why Avraham Bigger Matters to Israeli Business History

Bigger sat at the operational top of two of the largest and most politically visible IDB-group companies through the Dankner control period — a period that ended in the 2012 going-concern warning attached to IDB Holdings and Discount Investment Corporation's second-quarter reports, and the subsequent bondholder-led takeover of the group. His tenure at Shufersal and Makhteshim Agan predates the collapse of the IDB structure; the operational results at Makhteshim Agan in particular held up on the trajectory he set.

The English-language record on the IDB-Dankner-era executive class is thin. Bigger — chairman across the group's retail and agrochemical crown jewels — is one of the central figures.

For the diversified-holdings structure Bigger operated inside, see Discount Investment Corporation and the parallel Joseph Hackmey profile on the insurance side of the same era. On the Israeli capital-markets founders who built parallel platforms outside IDB, see Zvi Stepak.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who is Avraham Bigger?
Israeli corporate executive; chairman of Shufersal from June 2003 and of Makhteshim Agan (TASE: MAIN) from January 2007 through late 2010, during the Nochi Dankner control period of IDB Holdings.

What was Bigger's role at Bank Leumi?
He served on the Bank Leumi board of directors and on the bank's credit committee, resigning shortly before his June 2003 Shufersal appointment.

What did Bigger accomplish at Makhteshim Agan?
Merged Makhteshim and Agan into a single operating company, replaced most of the management team, brought in Erez Vigodman as CEO, executed a run of international acquisitions, and signed the June 2010 Albaugh LOI. First-half 2008 operating profit came in ~40 percent above prior year.

When did Bigger leave Makhteshim Agan?
Late 2010, amid the ChemChina buyout talks that led to the sale of the company. He said he was remaining with the IDB group.