At Least 30% Of TASE Shares To Be Issued To The Public - Holdings To Be Distributed Among Strategic Investment Entities

“The Israeli public is entitled to benefit from the growth and success of the Israeli economy. TASE is the most suitable platform for sharing this success with the public.

We believe the entry of international investment groups with extensive experience and in-depth understanding of leading global exchanges, combined with significant share held by the public, is the most appropriate structure for the local stock exchange and one that would support its continued development and growth.”

The Board of Directors of the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE) approved TASE’s agreement with Manikay Partners LLC, an American investment fund expected to acquire 19.9% of TASE’s shares based on market cap of NIS 551 million. Manikay has extensive experience and unique expertise in the global exchange industry. It has invested and has been involved in a number of leading exchanges worldwide.

Concurrently, several international investors are expected to acquire 51.8% of TASE shares. At least 30% of TASE shares to be acquired by these investors will be entrusted to a trustee until their distribution to the public. The issuance of at least 30% of TASE shares is expected to take place directly (with no involvement of institutional investors) in the last quarter of 2018.

The issuance plan is meant to enable a more distributed structure anchored in the new shareholders while securing sufficient shares for a successful public issuance so as to share TASE’s success with the Israeli general public.

Below is the expected holding structure of TASE at the end of the process:

The public: at least 30% (via direct placement)
Manikay investment fund: 19.9%
Several International strategic entities: 21.8%
Current shareholders: 22.3%; TASE employees: 6%.

Three months ago, TASE’s shareholders responded to the proposal of TASE CEO, Ittai Ben-Zeev, to sell 71.7% of their holdings in TASE based on market cap of NIS 0.5 billion, according to the maximum amount stipulated in the law of TASE structure. Consequently, TASE has been reviewing over the past few months several alternatives for joining various investors to TASE. The first stage involved review of leading global exchanges that have manifested interest in TASE. However, after TASE has concluded that selling its shares is not a prerequisite for strategic collaborations and that in fact, selling its shares may limit its leeway, the said structure has been devised. TASE is now planning to promote strategic collaborations of different kinds with some of the exchanges with which it has been in touch.