CFO resigned and CEO mistakenly received a million shekels
Over the weekend, reports of irregularities emerged in two new companies on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange: Best and Tomer Mazon. While in one case the funds taken by owners were returned, in the other, the CFO's resignation serves as a significant warning sign.
Investors in Tel Aviv have recently witnessed reports of irregularities in foreign companies that raised hundreds of millions of shekels from local investors in bond offerings. These cases have resurfaced risks associated with investing in bonds issued by entities incorporated in the British Virgin Islands (BVI). However, in the past week, local investors received two reminders that irregularities are not the exclusive domain of BVI companies and can occur in Israeli firms, especially those that have recently become public. The cases of Best and Tomer Mazon highlight the need for oversight during the transition phase from private to public status.
At the end of May, the local capital market was in an uproar after it was revealed that the controlling shareholders of the foreign summer camp company, Simed, transferred about 100 million shekels from the company's coffers to their own pockets, leading to its collapse. Last month, it was revealed that Mike Cohen, the controlling shareholder of Cohen Properties, also took about 30 million shekels from its coffers to repay private loans.
A million shekels taken "by mistake"
Construction company Best, which completed its stock offering in Tel Aviv about two months ago, reported an investigation following concerns about financial irregularities in a subsidiary. It is suspected that between October 2024 and June 2026, while the company was still private, controlling shareholders took up to one million shekels from the subsidiary's funds through a subcontractor without proper authorization.
Furthermore, the investigation revealed that an additional 2.2 million shekels were transferred from a non-material project through the same subcontractor, despite not being budgeted, and paid to third parties unrelated to the controlling shareholders.
According to the company, the controlling shareholders immediately returned 1.1 million shekels, including interest at the maximum rate. Chairman of the Board Rafi Bisker has authorized internal auditor Shlomi Drori and attorneys Zvi Agmon and Yehuda Gindi to conduct a comprehensive investigation.
Best Group, controlled by the Tanous brothers (69% of capital), completed its IPO last June at a valuation of approximately 2.9 billion shekels. Investors did not punish the company severely, with shares falling only 3% over two trading days, and a total decline of 7% since the offering.
CFO resigned and trading halted
A day after the events at Best, irregularities were discovered at another company that recently went public via a reverse merger: Tomer Mazon. The newly appointed CFO, Avital Perlstein-Cherny, resigned from her position before even starting.
The company stated that the resignation concerns the handling of inventory at Tomer Import and Marketing of Food Products in previous years. This prompted the company, controlled by businessman Doron Kimelov, to conduct an immediate audit to determine the impact on its 2026 financial reports published last April. Unlike the Best case, investors may be less patient with Tomer Mazon, as the issue could significantly affect results. Trading in the company, valued at approximately 138 million shekels, was halted on Friday.
Tomer Mazon has operated in food import and marketing since 1979 and joined the exchange three months ago following a merger with Cipio Vision.
