Zvi Levy, the controlling shareholder of Israeli defense manufacturer Aryt Industries, has sold a 6.9% stake in the company for 396 million shekels, the company said.
Levy sold the shares to an Israeli institutional investor, several foreign investors who previously did not hold Aryt shares and to Israeli institutions Phoenix and Mor, which increased their holdings as part of the transaction. The sale was carried out at an 8% discount to the stock’s closing price.
Aryt’s shares have surged about 425% over the past 12 months and nearly 3,000% since the outbreak of the war in Israel following Hamas’ October 7 attack. The company recently faced investor pushback after seeking to list its subsidiary, Reshef Technologies, a move it ultimately abandoned following pressure from institutional shareholders. About a month ago, Phoenix, Clal and Mor increased their stakes in the company.
The transaction, completed late Tuesday, January 14, came just ahead of the January 15 cutoff date for updating index weightings on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange. By increasing the public float, the timing of the sale is expected to boost trading liquidity in Aryt’s shares and require exchange-traded funds and defense-focused funds to buy additional shares when index changes take effect in early February.
This marks the second time Levy has sold shares since acquiring control of Aryt in 2007. He first sold shares in April at a price of about 2,350 shekels. Since then, the stock has risen about 2.7 times.
Aryt operates mainly through Reshef Technologies, which manufactures electronic fuses used to control the detonation of explosive charges in artillery shells, tanks and mortar rounds, as well as artillery rockets.
Levy became Aryt’s controlling shareholder at the end of May 2007, initially acquiring a 45% stake after beginning to invest in the company a year earlier. Between 2006 and 2010, he invested a total of 14.2 million shekels to build a 50.6% holding. Following the latest sales, his stake has fallen to 39.3%. Levy took control of Aryt when the company was struggling financially and had been removed from the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange’s main trading list to a preservation list. It returned to regular trading in July 2008.
Aryt’s sharp growth in operations and investor interest began after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, which heightened geopolitical tensions and increased global defense procurement. The stock’s main surge began in March 2023, after Aryt won a tender to supply fuses to India’s Ministry of Defense valued at $170 million to $190 million, with a further jump following the outbreak of war in Israel in October.