Alon Holdings Blue Square - Israel Ltd. Announces Downgrade of Rating by Midroog Ltd.

ROSH HA'AYIN, Israel, January 24, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --

Alon Holdings Blue Square - Israel Ltd. (NYSE: BSI) (the "Company"), announced today that Midroog Ltd. (an Israeli rating agency, a 51% subsidiary of Moody's ("Midroog")) issued an update to its rating of the Company's Series A and Series C debentures, downgrading the rating from "A1" to "A2" with a stable outlook including future issuance of up to NIS 200 million (approximately US$ 53 million) of debentures, which the Company is considering issuing by expanding the Series C bonds or by issuing a new series with a duration of up to 6.0 years.  

An English translation of the Midroog report, provided by Midroog, is being submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission on Form 6-K.  

Alon Holdings Blue Square - Israel Ltd. (hereinafter: "Alon Holdings") is the leading retail company in the State of Israel and operates in four reporting segments: In its supermarket segment, Alon Holdings, through its 100% subsidiary, Mega Retail Ltd., currently operates 211 supermarkets under different formats, each offering a wide range of food products, "Near Food" products and "Non-Food" products at varying levels of service and pricing. In its "Non-Food" segment, Alon Holdings, through its 100% subsidiary BEE Group Retail Ltd., operates specialist outlets in self operation and franchises and offers a wide range of "Non-Food" products as retailer and wholesaler. In the Commercial and Fueling Sites segment, through its 78.38% subsidiary, which is listed on the Tel Aviv stock exchange ("TASE"), Dor Alon Energy in Israel (1988) Ltd is one of the four largest fuel retail companies in Israel based on the number of petrol stations and a leader in the field of convenience stores.  Dor Alon operates a chain of 193 petrol stations and 195 convenience stores in different formats in Israel. In its Real Estate segment, Alon Holdings, through its TASE traded 78.26% subsidiary Blue Square Real Estate Ltd., owns, leases and develops yield generating commercial properties and projects.

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of safe harbor provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.  Forward-looking statements may include, but are not limited to, plans or projections about our business and our future revenues, expenses and profitability. Forward-looking statements may be, but are not necessarily, identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "may," "anticipates," "estimates," "expects," "intends," "plans," "believes," and words and terms of similar substance.  Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual events, results, performance, circumstance and achievements to be materially different from any future events, results, performance, circumstance and achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements.  These risks, uncertainties and other factors include, but are not limited to, the following: the effect of the recession in Israel on the sales in our stores and on our profitability; our ability to compete effectively against low-priced supermarkets and other competitors; quarterly fluctuations in our operating results that may cause volatility of our ADS and share price; risks associated with our dependence on a limited number of key suppliers for products that we sell in our stores; the effect of an increase in the minimum wage in Israel on our operating results; the effect of any actions taken by the Israeli Antitrust Authority on our ability to execute our business strategy and on our profitability; the effect of increases in oil, raw material and product prices in recent years; the effects of damage to our reputation or to the reputation of our store brands due to reports in the media or otherwise; and other risks, uncertainties and factors disclosed in our filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), including, but not limited to, risks, uncertainties and factors identified under the heading "Risk Factors" in our annual report on Form 20-F for the year ended December 31, 2010.  You are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this press release.  Except for our ongoing obligations to disclose material information under the applicable securities laws, we undertake no obligation to update the forward-looking information contained in this press release.

Contact:
     Alon Holdings Blue Square-Israel Ltd.
     Ortal Klein
     Corporate Secretary
     Telephone: +972-9-9618504
     Fax: +972-9-9618636
     Email: [email protected]

SOURCE Alon Holdings Blue Square-Israel Ltd