Altshuler Shaham Founders Sell Controlling Stake in Billion-Shekel Deal
Co-founders Gilad Altshuler and Kalman Shaham are selling a 55% stake in Altshuler Shaham Finance's provident and pension funds for 1.1 billion shekels to WeSure and Yair Levinstein.
The massive acquisition of Altshuler Shaham Finance, which dominated the capital markets last week, turned the spotlight naturally toward the investment house's co-founders, Gilad Altshuler and Kalman Shaham.
The Billion-Shekel Deal
Under the transaction, the two founders will sell a 55% controlling stake in the investment house's public provident and pension fund activities to the insurance company WeSure and Altshuler Shaham Finance CEO Yair Levinstein for 1.1 billion shekels.
By doing so, they are parting ways with their most significant business arm, which has suffered severe setbacks in recent years amid weak returns. In recent years, Altshuler Shaham experienced massive withdrawals exceeding half of all the capital the firm managed during its peak years, when it was the largest in Israel.
"The bittersweet exit marks the end of an era for one of Israel's most prominent investment houses, which struggled to stem the massive outflows of capital." — Capital Market Analysts
The Bar Family Stake
Joining Altshuler and Shaham in this bittersweet exit are their partners, members of the Bar family, who will pocket nearly 100 million shekels from the sale. Siblings Galia Bar-Wilf and Daniel Benin-Bar collectively hold nearly 10% of the private investment house shares.
Following the completion of the controlling stake sale in public Altshuler Shaham Finance, the Bar family is expected to retain its holdings in the private arm of the investment house, recently valued at 300 to 400 million shekels. This private activity includes mutual funds managing approximately 20 billion shekels, investment portfolios, hedge funds, a stock exchange member firm, and crypto trading operations through Horizon.
