State-owned Israel Aerospace Industries is ready for an IPO in Tel Aviv but is waiting for the green light from the government, IAI Chief Executive Officer Boaz Levy said on Sunday.
In November 2020, a ministerial privatization committee approved a plan under which Israel could sell up to 49% of IAI, the country’s largest defense company, to the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, raising billions of dollars. shekels.
“We are heading towards an IPO,” Mr. Levy told an investors conference at TASE. “Over the past year, our business results have confirmed IAI’s growth trend. We are currently experiencing phenomenal performance.
He said that according to the government’s decision which has already been approved, there will be an IPO of a minority stake in IAI as soon as the ministries of finance and defense “come to the decision that it is time to do it.”
These ministries declined to comment.
Israeli media reported that the need to reach an agreement with the IAI union and the weak stock market over the past two years had put the IPO on hold.
IAI manufactures civilian and defense products, including aircraft, air and missile defense systems, unmanned aerial systems (UAS), ground robots, precision-guided weapons, munitions, satellites and systems for space activities.
In the first nine months of 2024, IAI reported a record profit of $416 million, up 74% from the previous year.
Revenue increased 13% to $4.4 billion amid increasing military conflicts on multiple fronts in the country, while IAI’s order book grew by more than $7 billion dollars over the past year, reaching $25 billion at the end of September.
The company has 156 million shekels ($43 million) of bonds traded on the TASE.
In June, IAI paid a $155 million dividend to the Israeli government.
(1 $ = 3,5995 shekels)
