"Egged's IPO has left the station. I hope we'll do it in 2027"

Amir Levy, chairman of Egged and former head of the Budget Division, stated at the Calcalist and Bank Leumi conference that Egged's IPO "has left the station" and a structural change request has been submitted. He expressed hope that the IPO would take place in 2027, and called for expanding public transportation, enacting metropolitan authority legislation, and economic reforms including a fiscal council law and restraint of the defense budget.

Amir Levy, chairman of Egged and former head of the Budget Division, said at the Calcalist and Bank Leumi National Infrastructure Conference that Egged's IPO "has left the station" and a request for structural change has been submitted. Levy expressed hope that the IPO would be completed in 2027, noting that the capital market is thirsty for companies like Egged, whose main clients are states. He detailed the company's growth engines: expansion in public transportation in Israel and abroad (Netherlands, Poland, Lithuania) and real estate consolidated in a separate company. Levy called for completing light rail projects, adding public transportation lanes, and massively increasing the bus fleet, noting that in every advanced country, 40%-50% of travel is bus-based. He emphasized the need for legislation establishing metropolitan transportation authorities. Levy also addressed the economic situation, noting that Israel entered the war on October 7 with a debt-to-GDP ratio of 60% thanks to the management of the Budget Division, which allowed spending of 270 billion shekels over three years. He called for enacting a fiscal council law, similar to the Bank of Israel's advisory committee, to oversee the budget. Levy referred to Moody's downgrade as a bad sign and called for gradually restraining the defense budget. He noted two main challenges for the new government: integrating Haredim and the public transportation crisis, which costs the economy about 45 billion shekels annually.