Infrastructure company Shapir Engineering and Industry (TASE: SPEN) reported this week that it had signed a binding agreement to sell its natural gas distribution companies (Super NG and Super NG Hadera & HaAmakim) for NIS 230 million. The purchaser is Allied, one of Israel’s largest holding companies, managed by Itzhak Swary. Shapir expects the transaction to yield a pre-tax gain of NIS 50-100 million.
"We wanted to free up capital," explains Moshe Zabusky, Shapir’s CFO, to *Globes*. "We anticipate a need for significant investment in the coming years, so we sought to generate liquidity by selling off assets where a sale made sense. But this wasn't inevitable-if the deal hadn't been good enough, we could have simply chosen not to sell at this stage."
The deal also has a regulatory dimension. Under the Natural Gas Sector Law, a distribution license holder is prohibited from owning 10% or more of an oil refinery’s shares while also appointing a director to its board. Shapir has held a 10% stake in Ashdod Oil Refineries since the latter was split off from Paz in 2023, together with options to increase its holding and gain control of the company (up to 65% of the equity).
"This deal removes one of the obstacles we faced," says Zabusky, noting that he expects approval from the Natural Gas Sector Regulator and the Competition Authority to be a formality. "However," he says, "a regulatory hurdle that emerged in recent months still remains," referring to a recommendation issued in late July by the Committee for the Reduction of Market Concentration, which advised against granting Shapir a permit to control Ashdod Oil Refineries, arguing that doing so would place the company among the most highly concentrated entities in the economy. "The Ministry of Energy holds a position that contrary to this recommendation, and we see this as an opening to revisit the discussion," says Zabusky. "When we invested in Ashdod Oil Refineries, the intention was to exercise the options-and that intention remains."
Rewarding the employees too
Even before acquiring control of Ashdod Oil Refineries, Shapir was enjoying an excellent period. It concluded the first half of 2026 with revenue of NIS 3.2 billion and a net profit of NIS 164 million, representing increases of 17% and 156%, respectively. The company’s share price has risen by 70% over the past three years and by 33% since the beginning of the current year, giving the company a market cap of NIS 15 billion.
A gap of about NIS 4 billion separates Shapir from the second-largest infrastructure company, Shikun & Binui. In this context, Zabusky says: "I think that we tend to be cautious and conservative in our forecasts, whereas others are less so. Furthermore, we have generated significant value that the market previously failed to recognize, for instance, in the roads deal." In that deal, Shapir sold 58% of its rights in the northern section of Highway 6, Highway 16, and the "Fast Lane" (Netiv Mahir) to institutional investors for NIS 556 million.
Another advantage, he says, is the group’s integrated structure, which includes an industrial sector comprising quarries, concrete, asphalt, and cement. "Even if we don't win the projects, we have a stake in the infrastructure sector," says Sabovski. "Demand for the products we sell will continue to grow in the coming years."
The primary beneficiaries of the value Shapir has generated are the controlling shareholders, the four Shapira brothers, who also lead the company’s operations: Harel, who serves as CEO; Israel, who manages the infrastructure division; Gil, who manages the industrial division; and Chen, who manages the franchises and residential development division. Together, the four brothers hold a 56% stake in Shapir-divided equally among them-with a market value of NIS 8.3 billion (NIS 2.1 billion each). Furthermore, since the company’s IPO in 2016, the four brothers have sold Shapir shares totaling over NIS 1 billion-the most recent sale occurring in April of this year, amounting to NIS 275 million. Combined with their share of the dividends distributed by Shapir (approximately NIS 400 million) and their substantial compensation-totaling roughly NIS 20 million annually for all four-the result is wealth amounting to NIS 10 billion for the four brothers, though for now most of this remains on paper.
The Shapira brothers have also demonstrated generosity toward the group’s employees. In 2021, Shapir announced the allocation of options to no fewer than 850 employees. These options vested over the past year; it is estimated that each employee who has not yet exercised them has made an average gain of over NIS 350,000.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on October 21, 2026.
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