Global Investors to Acquire 21.5% Stake in Israel’s Phoenix Holdings

Israeli and International investors including Affinity Partners, backed by the former US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, on Tuesday agreed to acquire up to 21.5% of Phoenix Holdings, a leading Israeli financial group, from Centerbridge Partners and Gallatin Point.

The investments involved an agreement for the sale of 4.95% of Phoenix shares to Affinity Partners, while an additional 6.5% of the shares will be executed in off-market blocks to various international institutional investors, including Lazard Asset Management.

Affinity Partners has further committed to acquiring an additional 4.95% of Phoenix subject to receipt of regulatory approval. All transactions were at a price of $10.31 per share.

Concurrently, various arrangements between the funds and Delek, controlled by Yitzhak Tshuva, are being closed out. This includes paying off a loan agreement stemming from the 2019 acquisition of the controlling stake from Delek. As part of this process, Delek will also acquire a 4.99% stake in Phoenix at the agreed rate of $10.31 per share.

Centerbridge and Gallatin Point, who acquired control of Phoenix in 2019, will remain with approximately 10% after effectuating these transactions.

Phoenix is valued at approximately $2.6 billion in the deal, meaning Affinity will be paying around $128 million for its stake.

Trust in Phoenix

Ben Langworthy (Centerbridge) and Lee Sachs (Gallatin) said that the management team and employees of the Phoenix are among the best in the industry and they were proud to work alongside them as they transformed Phoenix into one of the nation’s leading financial institutions.

“We are excited that these transactions will further diversify the shareholder base of Phoenix. These transactions represent a significant vote of confidence in Phoenix and Israel, and the company’s excellent work over the past several years. We look forward to continuing to support the management team as they lead Phoenix to even greater heights,” they added.

In his comments, Jared Kushner said that they were excited to become significant shareholders in Phoenix.

“Affinity is long-term bullish on Israel because it is one of the fastest growing countries in the OECD, both in terms of population and GDP growth. We look forward to working closely with the company as it continues its journey toward becoming a globally recognised financial services provider,” he added.

Jefferies acted as sole global coordinator, book runner and financial advisor to Centerbridge and Gallatin Point on the transaction. This is the second transaction that Jefferies has led in Israel during the war, the first being the sale of 5% of the shares of the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange to Bill Ackman.