Russian-born billionaire Arcadi Gaydamak, two weeks after scuttling his revolutionary attempt to convert a large non-kosher food chain to a kosher network, has bought a 45 percent interest in a kosher import company.

His investment gives him a controlling interest in Willi-Food Investment, Israel's largest food importer that includes an extensive range of kosher products. Its various food items are each certified kosher, many by supervisions upon which several segments of the Hareidi public rely.