60-year-old company in crisis: founder's grandson wins power struggle and ousts the board

In the early 2000s, the tampon manufacturer Rozetem, owned by Udi Pozis, fell into a crisis. An agreement with the company's main client was canceled after Rozetem tried to sell its business to a competitor of that client.

The crisis required an injection of tens of millions of shekels from Pozis, who also led a dramatic efficiency process in the company, which included replacing the entire board of directors and firing employees. It succeeded, and eventually, Pozis sold Rozetem in 2010 to the company Albaad for $65 million and at a large profit.

It seems that the Pozis family hopes that a similar scenario will happen in the drug distribution company Novolog, which is under its control. This company also fell into a crisis in recent years, and here too Pozis put his hand deep into his pocket, concurrently with replacing the company's board of directors. In the interim, a short power struggle recently took place at Novolog, which ended after a week with a report that the Pozis family would invest 91 million shekels to fortify its control over the company.

Now, when Novolog is equipped with new directors, the controlling family (whose moves are currently led by Oded, Udi's son) is convinced that it will embark on a new path. This is after the Novolog stock lost more than half the value at which it was issued and 76% of its price at its peak (reflecting a value for the company of less than 400 million shekels).

Acquisitions became a burden

Novolog, which was founded 60 years ago by Eliezer Pozis (Udi's father), deals in providing health services: logistics and transport of drugs and clinical trials, home care, and digital health.

The company, which was issued in Tel Aviv in 2017, was managed in the following years by Eran Tauss. He identified a weakness that it seems all parties around the company agree on today: the relatively low profit margins of the logistics business. "Pure logistics companies are not suitable for the capital market," says a source who previously served in a senior position in the company.

Therefore, Tauss began a blitz of acquisitions of companies from various fields in the medical world, such as clinic queue management services or digital health. In addition, Tauss began to expand the company's activity abroad, and also to acquire businesses in the field of health services such as the Ein Tal eye clinic chain. "Udi Pozis was involved in the acquisitions that Tauss made and supported them," say sources who were involved in the company at the time.

In those years, a deal began to be formed that was only recently reported, for the acquisition of Herzliya Medical Center by a group of investors led by Yitzhak Tshuva. Globes learned that Novolog was supposed to join as an investor in this deal. Such a move could have fundamentally changed the group's activity and significantly diversified it, alongside synergy with its existing businesses. The tension between Pozis and Tauss probably began around this deal, "which was too big for Pozis at that time," say sources who knew the company at that time.

Meanwhile, the coronavirus led to a boom in Novolog's core business, which operates a logistics center in Modiin and a fleet of hundreds of vehicles, and so did other areas such as home hospitalization and clinical trials. At this stage (2022), the company was traded at a peak value of 1.8 billion shekels.

"The controlling shareholder 'flipped'"

But when the coronavirus passed, it was discovered that not all the new activities acquired were succeeding in reaching profitability. "And gradually, Udi Pozis flipped on Tauss," says a source who knew the company since then. Tauss left in 2023, and in his place, Aviad Busi was appointed CEO. "Tauss didn't really like logistics. He had a different vision for the company, and maybe that's why he also didn't invest enough in efficiency in the logistics division during his tenure. But Busi really liked logistics, and was also experienced in it," says another source who was in a senior position in the company at that time. "He arrived after he built the logistics center of Teva, Salomon, Novolog's main competitor."

Busi, in coordination with Udi Pozis who was appointed chairman, began to examine Tauss's acquisitions. "Some of them looked stable and some didn't, they were probably made at high prices that characterized the biomed market during the coronavirus period, and to the current management they seemed completely lacking in focus," says the former senior official. "Busi embarked on a painful, but essential in his opinion and the opinion of Pozis at that time, strategic move of selling some of these companies, significant write-offs of the investments made in others (which moved Novolog to a loss of 40 million shekels in 2023) and declines in the stock."

To these was added the company's decision the following year to replace the ERP system (software for managing organizational resources). The former senior official: "There was no choice. The existing system was limited and stood on shaky ground, Novolog could not expand. Without replacing the ERP, there would be no Novolog today."

But the move failed technically, and customers began to leave Novolog, including large and significant customers, for example, the pharmaceutical company Pfizer. Other customers decided that the risk of working only with Novolog was too great and split activity between it and Salomon. "It was a technological crisis, but also a crisis of customer relationship management," says the same source who was involved in the company then. "And at the same time, the management of Salomon of Teva strengthened greatly in that period." The stock collapsed at the time by tens of percent, in fact, it has not recovered since that fall.

Sources close to Novolog say that there was another factor that led to the decline in the stock in recent years. At the beginning of 2026, Udi Pozis (who held 27% of Novolog shares before the current capital injection) began to express interest in selling control of the company and met with various parties. "It was an expression of no confidence that hurt the stock," says a source who was involved in the company at that time. When the sale did not succeed, he passed the reins to his son, Oded, who was appointed as a director in May 2026.

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Novolog

Field of activity: logistics for drugs, health services, and digital health.

History: founded in 1966 by Eliezer Pozis. Managed by Udi Pozis (son) who introduced the FIMI fund as an investor in 2013. The company was issued in 2017 and FIMI exited in 2019.

Data: the company is traded at a market value of about 390 million shekels, about half lower than at the issuance. Revenues totaled last year 1.8 billion shekels, and profits 4 million shekels - a decrease of 90% compared to 2024.

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Tension at the top

The tension between the Novolog board of directors, headed by Arik Shor, former CEO of Tnuva, and Oded Pozis was clear from the first moment. Sources on the board of directors (which was mostly appointed with the blessing of Udi Pozis) said that Oded expressed himself aggressively towards them, while Pozis the son claimed that the directors hid information from him.

Director Anat Gabriel, among other things vice president at global Unilever, resigned a moment before the power struggle exploded, apparently against the background of the tension that was created between the sides. Oded Pozis for his part blamed the board of directors for the situation and claimed in a letter to the company that there is emerging: "a bleak and worrying picture of a severe, deep, and continuous management failure, bordering on actual criminal negligence."

Opinions are divided regarding what happened next. Oded Pozis claims that the board of directors felt the ground shaking under its feet and recruited an investment offer from Eli Dahan, owner of the Movement group, to dilute the holdings of the Pozis family.

Dahan has known Novolog for many years. In 2019, in the midst of the acquisition wave, he sold it the companies Target Care and Infomed for 82 million shekels (businesses that remained in its possession even today and for which no value write-downs were made). Following the sale, part of which was paid in Novolog shares, Dahan became an investor in the company and even signed with Ehud Pozis a control agreement, which lasted until the beginning of 2023, when the agreement was canceled and Dahan sold his holdings.

At the end of last month, Dahan submitted an investment offer of 100 million shekels in the battered Novolog, in exchange for an allocation of about 21% of its shares. Completing the move would have made him a shareholder equal in power to Pozis, but apparently one who enjoys the support of the board of directors.

At this stage, the Pozis family acted decisively, bought Novolog shares from Phoenix and the Arkin group for 91 million shekels, a price 40% higher than the price at which they were traded before Dahan's offer was submitted. The purchase increased the family's share in Novolog to 44% and decided the struggle. Once this happened, it was already clear that the company's board of directors (except for the external directors) was going home. Its members did not wait for their dismissal and immediately announced their departure.

In their place, Oded Pozis appointed Ofer Linczewski who serves as CEO of the Gadot group; Doron Sela, CEO of Apple product marketer Icon; and Sagi Kadori who served as global CFO of Strauss Water.

And yet, in the environment of the resigning board of directors, they claim that they did not initiate Dahan's offer, and that it arrived a few weeks before the tension reached its peak, and also that Dahan offered Pozis to be a partner in the investment, but Pozis was not interested in that.

From a family business to a series of exits: Udi Pozis's path to success

Unlike entrepreneurs who roll in various ways into their field of activity, in the case of Ehud (Udi) Pozis (73) the path was clear - he was born into the drug distribution business. His father, Eliezer, founded in the sixties a company for the distribution of drugs of the Avik company, then the second largest pharma company in Israel. The company, which was called Pharm-Avik, distributed Avik products to pharmacies, first in the Tel Aviv area and later throughout the country.

Towards the end of the 70s, with his release from the army, Pozis entered the family business and was appointed CEO of Pharm-Avik. Under his management, the company's activity expanded significantly, among other things thanks to advertising campaigns it raised on the radio for over-the-counter drugs. A decade later, at the end of the 80s, the company was sold to Teva for 25 million dollars, when Pozis's share was reported to be 3 million dollars.

Path full of crises

In the early 80s, parallel to his work in the family company, Pozis carried out his first business move outside the family, when he founded together with Rami Kluger, his friend from the school bench on the academic reserve track in mechanical engineering at Ben Gurion University, the tampon manufacturer Rozetem.

This one knew ups and downs throughout its years of activity, and even fell into a sharp crisis in the early 2000s. After a significant recovery process, Rozetem (which became the tampon supplier of the Wal-Mart chain) was sold to the wet wipe manufacturer Albaad, of Moshav Masu'ot Yitzhak, for 65 million dollars. About half the amount, 33 million dollars, flowed to the shareholders led by Pozis, while the rest was used to cover debts accumulated by Rozetem.

But for the most significant value creation, Pozis owes the businesses in which he grew up. In 1993, armed with cash and the experience he accumulated, Pozis joined the family business - Pharm Up, which would later become Novolog. The company focused on the distribution of prescription drugs of local and international drug manufacturers to pharmacies, and became the largest player in the market.

At the beginning of the previous decade, Pozis, together with his partner Shaul Kobrinsky, sold about half of the company's shares to the FIMI investment fund of Ishay Davidi for 85 million shekels. Together with FIMI, Pozis and Kobrinsky led about a decade ago a successful issuance of the company on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange at a value of 550 million shekels. As part of the issuance, Pozis sold shares in exchange for 82 million shekels, while FIMI sold a larger chunk for 192 million shekels, while they recorded significant value creation.

Price-fixing affair

In the interim, Pozis carried out another exit in his businesses, when he sold in the early 2000s the company Pharma Green, which held the franchise for the distribution of the energy snack "Energy", to the company Elite for 6 million dollars. The sale was accompanied by a sour tone, after Pozis together with the company's CEO Motti Cohen, stood at the center of an investigation by the Antitrust Authority, concerning price-fixing they carried out against a distributor of a competing brand ("Corny"). Finally, the court convicted Pozis, and he was fined 100 thousand shekels and sent to three months of community service.

In the past, it was claimed in the economic media that alongside his businesses, Pozis invested a significant part of his capital also in the real estate sector and the capital market, investments that yielded him, according to the claim, profits even higher than those he accumulated in his various business ventures.

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90% collapse in profit

Even after the Pozis family survived the stormy week in which its control was threatened, the company's fundamental problems still exist. The logistics division, which constitutes 86% of the company's revenues, records low profitability rates, and it recorded last year a 14% decrease in revenues compared to 2024 (to 1.6 billion shekels).

The other divisions, health services and digital health, actually grew and the health services division moved from a loss to a profit, but their total share in the pie is low. The company's net profit stood at only about 4 million shekels - a decrease of 90% compared to the profit in 2024.

Sources close to the company claim that customers who left the company are customers who gave it the best payment terms. "Not all quarters are cash-flow positive. To move forward, the company needs investment inside like the one Dahan offered." On the other hand, there are those who believe that those customers who left, such as Pfizer, will not be able to be customers of Salomon for long, which belongs to Teva, their generic competitor.

Sources who were close to the company in the past say that CEO Busi and the resigning board of directors worked on a strategic plan that included establishing new activities in areas adjacent to logistics, strengthening the clinical trials division and the Ein Tal eye clinic chain. It is not known to what extent Oded Pozis is behind this plan. Beyond that, it is clear to all concerned that the logistics division needs to undergo further efficiency, and regain the trust of the customers who left.

Investors in Novolog or those examining an investment in the company now also noted Oded Pozis's status in the company. To allow their investment, they will want to see good relations between him and the management and the new board members, and freedom of action for the professional factors.

From the Pozis family and Novolog, it was stated in response: "Novolog is focused on implementing moves to strengthen its business performance, increase profitability and realize the company's potential. In the coming period, emphasis will be placed on strengthening the group's activities, including in the field of logistics, improving efficiency, operational excellence and continuing to develop growth engines.

"Novolog is one of the leading companies in the health market and holds significant assets, which it is focused on translating into improvement in performance, expansion of activity and creation of long-term value for the company and all its shareholders."

Arik Shor preferred not to be interviewed for the article.