The Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE) is "available at a bargain price because of the war and associated uncertainty" hedge fund billionaire Bill Ackman wrote on X (formerly Twitter) this morning. Together with his wife Neri Oxman, Ackman bought a 4.9% stake in the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange in January this year for $100 million.
"The best businesses in the world are capital-light franchises which own the right to collect royalties on a compounding base of assets. TASE is a unique non-disruptible franchise in one of the most entrepreneurial economies in the world," Ackman wrote.
The couple bought their shares in the stock exchange in a secondary offering of shares by Israeli institutions and the TASE itself, amounting to 18.5% of the shares in the exchange. As far as is known, this was Ackman’s first ever investment in an Israeli company. Sources inform "Globes" that the deal was sealed at a meeting at Ackman’s offices in New York between him, investment bank Jefferies, which acted as global placement coordinator for the offering, and Tel Aviv Stock Exchange CEO Ittai Ben-Zeev.
"I was very impressed with management, their business plan and their technological capabilities. The company was effectively a mutually owned entity held by the big Israeli banks. It now is a public company with entrepreneurial management. We wanted to buy more but that’s all they had available for sale. Worth a close look. We view TASE as a permanent holding," Ackman added in his message on X.
With a holding just under the 5% threshold, Ackman is not expected to become a party at interest in the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange or to join its board of directors. "He did it mainly out of a desire to express support for Israel, and also because he liked the company," a senior capital markets source said at the time, "and it’s also a positive signal for the value of the stock."
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on March 27, 2024.
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