Israel’s largest food company is getting ready to try the stock market again. Tnuva is preparing an initial public offering on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange at a valuation that could exceed NIS 10 billion, Globes reported – and if it happens, it would rank among the largest offerings the exchange has ever seen.
The effort is at an early stage: company executives have sought legal advice and begun a series of meetings with capital market players, with the move slated for next year. No formal offering has been launched, and Tnuva has not commented publicly on the new preparations.
Tnuva has been here before. A 2021 attempt, at an estimated valuation of NIS 9 to 10 billion, collapsed in a sharp dispute between its two ownership groups: China’s Bright Food, which holds 75% of the company, and the kibbutz organizations that hold the remaining 25%. Late last year, Tnuva was preparing for a 2026 listing that also did not materialize. Its chief executive, Gadi Cunia, said at the time that the decision rested with the shareholders: the company was profitable and growing and did not need to raise capital, though going public could offer other advantages.
The Tel Aviv Stock Exchange ticker board (David Shay / CC BY-SA 4.0).
Bright Food acquired control of Tnuva in 2015 from the Apax Partners fund and Mivtach Shamir, in a deal that valued the company at NIS 8.6 billion.
The renewed attempt follows a wave of food-sector listings in Tel Aviv. Meat producer Baladi, dairy maker Gad and food company Sugat all went public over the past year at valuations above NIS 1 billion each. But investor appetite has since cooled: a Tel Aviv food-stock index launched in May had shed more than 18% of its value by August, according to a Globes analysis at the time.
What it means: Tnuva’s products sit in nearly every Israeli refrigerator, and a public listing would put a company that touches almost every household’s grocery bill under market scrutiny for the first time, its prices, profits and ownership debated in the open. That day has not arrived. The preparations are real, but so is the track record of attempts that never happened.
JBizNews Desk | Tel Aviv
© JBizNews.com. All rights reserved. Unauthorized reproduction or redistribution is strictly prohibited.
