Ofer Yanai is firing in all directions: adding institutional investors and pushing for power station acquisition

The past week has been particularly busy for Ofer Yanai, owner of the energy company Nofar Energy and the Hapoel Tel Aviv basketball team. Today, Friday, Nofar Energy shares are down 4.5% to a market value of 8 billion shekels following the company's report of a private placement in its subsidiary, the Nofar Energy Europe partnership, to Migdal Insurance for 250 million shekels.

These are preferred shares without voting rights, granting Migdal priority in dividend payments. According to Nofar, the funds will be used to finance energy projects and data centers in Europe. Under the agreement, Migdal is entitled to an annual dividend of 8.5% in the first years, rising to 10% after 5 years, 11.5% after 10 years, and 13.5% after 15 years. Nofar clarifies: "It will not be possible to pay receipts to partners in the partnership before the annual preferred dividend and the accumulated preferred dividend have been paid." The terms are identical to those under which Phoenix invested 450 million shekels in Nofar 4 months ago.

This is just the latest in a series of events this week. Earlier today, Nofar reported it is in advanced stages of negotiations with Phoenix and other investors to acquire their 47.5% stake (of which Phoenix holds 39.5%) in the Reindeer natural gas power station near Kfar Saba, which has a capacity of 865 megawatts. The deal is valued at approximately 855 million shekels, with potential future contingent consideration. Nofar is also considering purchasing 35% of the rights to an adjacent 60-dunam plot for potential future development of energy or data center facilities. The acquisition would be conducted through the subsidiary Nofar Israel. Other major shareholders include Generation Capital (27.5%) and Rapac Energy (25%). The power station is expected to be completed by 2030.

Rapid Value Creation

At the beginning of the week, the company appointed Dina Ben-Tal Ganancia, former CEO of El Al, as an external director. Later, Nofar reported that the Meitav investment house is in negotiations to invest in Nofar Israel. A non-binding memorandum of understanding has been signed with Meitav Gemel Pension for a 200 million shekel investment in exchange for 8.7% of shares, based on a pre-money valuation of 2.1 billion shekels (2.3 billion post-money). The final agreement is expected within 30 days.

For Nofar Israel, this represents rapid value creation; earlier this year, Clal Insurance invested based on a pre-money valuation of 1.3 billion shekels (1.6 billion post-money), marking a 44% increase in value. In May, Nofar also entered the server farm sector by signing an agreement with the real estate firm B.S.R. to acquire land rights in Shoham for a 361 million shekel project.

Simultaneously, the company is preparing for a dual listing on NASDAQ. Recall that last year, Nofar approved a compensation package for Ofer Yanai worth nearly 800 million shekels, contingent on the company reaching a market value of 16 billion shekels within three years. At the time of approval, Nofar's value was 3.7 billion shekels; it is currently traded at a value of 8 billion shekels.