The boom on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange in the past year has brought with it a wave of sales by parties at interest amounting to NIS 17 billion, three times the figure for last year, which was also a positive year for the market.
The outstanding player among those striking while the iron is hot is private equity firm FIMI Opportunity Funds. Over recent decades, the market has become used to excellent performance by the firm, among other things through taking advantage of the platform offered by the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange for floating and selling companies.
This year, the firm, headed by Ishay Davidi, has sold shares in seven companies that it controls to the tune of NIS 2.6 billion, most of it representing profit, as it had already paid back its investment by selling shares after taking steps to enhance the value of the companies in previous years.
FIMI’s home playing field
«The capital market is FIMI’s home playing field, and when it’s very strong and there are sales and flotations, FIMI will clearly be among those making gains,» a market player says. «It received most of its following wind from the impressive returns on the capital market, to which can be added its large holdings in the defense sector, where stocks have attracted great interest.»
In the past week, FIMI, the largest private equity firm in Israel, which next year will celebrate 30 years since it was founded, has announced the sale of half of its shares in PCB Technologies, which provides printed circuit design and production services, for NIS 125 million. This is its second sale of shares in the company. Earlier this year it sold shares in the company for NIS 135 million. FIMI continues to hold a 16% stake in PCB, and altogether it has gained nearly four times the investment it made in 2018.
This follows a series of similar moves in portfolio companies in the past year. What all the companies have in common is a connection with defense, a sector that has benefitted from high demand since the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the subsequent outbreak of the Swords of Iron war, and the global arms race that has developed.
The biggest sale was of shares in aero engine company Bet Shemesh Engines. FIMI sold 8% of the company for NIS 530 million. Together with previous share sales, Bet Shemesh Engines has turned into one of FIMI’s most successful investments, yielding a nine-fold return on the NIS 200 million invested in 2016.
Another large sale was of shares in TAT Technologies, which deals in aircraft maintenance and overhaul. FIMI sold its entire 28% holding in the company for $75 million (NIS 264 million). This followed another sale a year previously, bringing it a total return of three times its original investment in 2013.
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Another defense company in which FIMI has sold shares is Ashot Ashkelon. In 2025, it sold shares to the tune of NIS 490 million, reducing its stake to 52.3%, worth some NIS 950 million. This gives it a return (partly on paper) of seven times the investment it made in late 2021, when it bought the company, which produces components for aircraft and land vehicles, for NIS 285 million from Elbit Systems.
Benefitting from foreign investment
Besides the share sales, FIMI made two successful exits this year when two listed companies that it controlled were sold to foreign investors. The first was the sale of 31.4% of industrial automation solutions company Unitronics to Indian electronics company Amber for NIS 122 million. FIMI bought 50% of Unitronics for NIS 110 million in 2016, and realized shares along the way.
The second exit was the sale last month of communications systems company Orbit to US defense company Kratos in a merger deal that values the company at $356 million. On completion of the deal, FIMI, which holds 22% of the company, will receive $80 million (NIS 256 million). Altogether, FIMI will post a nine-fold gain on the investment it made in 2017.
Finally, FIMI also gained recently from the flotation of nursing care company Amal Group and Beyond, which it controlled (together with the company’s CEO Dalia Korkin). In the flotation, FIMI sold shares to the tune of NIS 643 million. It remains the largest shareholder, with a 25% stake worth NIS 687 million. Altogether, FIMI’s return on the NIS 500 million investment it made in the company is 3.1 times.
Prospect of further acquisitions and flotations
Besides realizing shares and selling companies, FIMI also made two acquisitions. It bought Benny Landa’s printer company Landa Digital Printing for $80 million, and a month later it bought half the shares in advanced cutting tools company Carmex for $85 million.
Last month, FIMI announced that it would raise its eighth and largest fund, a process that it expects to complete by June 2026. The fund is set to raise $1.5 billion, half from Israeli investors and half from investors overseas.
«If the positive sentiment continues, FIMI will make a similar number of realizations and will present substantial gains,» a market player says, looking ahead to 2026. «In addition, the firm has at least ten companies ready for flotations, so that I estimate that by June 2026 we shall see at least two more companies being floated,» he added.
Published by Globes, Israel business news — en.globes.co.il — on December 24, 2025.
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