Ackman Buys Into Tel Aviv Bourse in First Israeli Deal Since War

Bill Ackman, chief executive officer of Pershing Square Capital Management LP, speaks during an interview for an episode of “The David Rubenstein Show: Peer-to-Peer Conversations” in New York, US, on Tuesday, Nov. 28, 2023. Ackman in October said he covered his short bet on US Treasuries, noting “there is too much risk in the world to remain short bonds at current long-term rates.”

(Bloomberg) — Bill Ackman and his wife Neri Oxman have bought into the Tel Aviv bourse, marking the hedge fund billionaire’s first major investment in Israel since its war with Hamas erupted.

The couple will buy 5% of Tel Aviv Stock Exchange Ltd. for about $17 million, according to a statement Wednesday. The deal was part of an 18.5% stake sale to a group of foreign and local investors for 242 million shekels ($64 million).

Ackman — who’s railed against the rise in antisemitism since the Hamas attacks and Israel’s subsequent retaliation — and Oxman were the only investors named in the statement. The shares were sold at a 5% discount to the stock’s last close.

Ackman is the the founder of Pershing Square Capital Management and has a personal net worth of $2.6 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

The investor, a Harvard University graduate, sharply criticized the school in recent months for failing to root out antisemitism on campus. Claudine Gay, the university’s first Black president, eventually stepped down amid Ackman’s attacks and allegations of plagiarism.

Oxman was a professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Media Lab. A first lieutenant in the Israeli Air Force, she is a graduate of the Architectural Association School of Architecture in London.

According to a recent report in Business Insider, she plagiarized multiple paragraphs of her 2010 doctoral dissertation. Oxman has responded to the outlet’s accusations saying she had “omitted quotation marks for certain work” in her 330-page thesis, but had cited other authors appropriately while Ackman has accused the site of holding a “campaign to destroy” his wife.

Business Insider’s chief executive officer said the organization stands by its report.

The deal is an early sign of foreign investors returning to Israel after having pulled money at the onset of the war. The Tel Aviv Stock Exchange underperformed the country’s equity benchmark last year, falling 9% while the main index rallied 4%.

The offering is expected to close on or about Jan. 25. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. served as sole global placement coordinator with Leader Capital Markets acting as local placement coordinator for Israel.

–With assistance from Dana Khraiche.

(Updates throghout with details)

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