Gad Zeevi signs MOU to buy Gadot for $550m
Israeli businessman Gad Zeevi signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding to acquire Gadot Group at a $550 million valuation. The company, a partner in Haifa Port, is also in talks with other foreign parties at higher valuations. Gadot's owners, Tene Investment Funds and LBH Group, are represented by Jefferies.
Israeli businessman Gad Zeevi has signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding (MOU) to acquire Gadot Group at a company valuation of $550 million. The deal is not yet final, as Gadot's owners, Ariel Halperin's Tene Investment Funds (60%) and the LBH Group led by Value Base, are simultaneously in talks with other foreign parties, some of whom are interested at higher valuations. Gadot's owners are represented by US investment bank Jefferies. Tene, which specializes in industrial and kibbutz company investments, is eager to proceed because it has held its investment for over a decade, a long period for a private equity fund. Tene originally acquired Gadot, then called Gadot Tankers, from a receiver for $73.5 million, outbidding Yishay Davidi's FIMI Opportunity Funds by $1 million. Gadot Group entered as a partner in Haifa Port in 2022, winning as junior partner to India's Adani Group with a NIS 4.2 billion bid. Gad Zeevi, 86, born on Kibbutz Masada, has been involved in major deals in energy, retail, and real estate, and briefly owned Beitar Jerusalem football team. In 1999, he purchased Bezeq shares from Cable & Wireless, later facing an indictment for fraud related to hiding Michael Cherney's share; he was fully acquitted in 2015.