A strong rally on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange in recent months has triggered a wave of share sales by controlling shareholders and major investors, even as institutional investors continue to pour money into local equities.
The TA-125 index, the exchange’s benchmark, rose 51% during 2025 and has gained an additional 7% since the start of this year. Against that backdrop, insiders have sold about 1.8 billion shekels’ worth of shares since January, while other companies have issued stock to new investors.
Recent transactions have included sales in Next Vision, Tophaz, Mer Group, Beit Shemesh Engines, PCB Technologies and real estate firms Donitz, Netanel Group and Gefen Living. On the buying side were mainly institutional investors, including insurance companies and investment houses.
Two high-profile deals involved AP Partners, which sold stakes in RP Optical and TopGum, companies it backed before they went public. Despite being executed at discounts to market prices, the sales generated significant profits for the fund.
In RP Optical, the sale price reflected a 24% discount to the share price at the close of the previous trading day, while in TopGum the discount was about 15%. AP Partners said the agreed discounts at signing were in the single digits, but the gap widened as the shares continued to climb between signing and completion.
TopGum shares rose 98% in the year leading up to the sale, compared with a 54% gain in the TA-125. RP Optical shares gained 54% from their June initial public offering to the sale date, versus a 31% rise in the index.
A senior institutional investor said the surge in prices has encouraged insiders to take profits. “After such gains, it’s difficult to ignore the opportunity to realize significant value, including in companies where owners have rarely sold in the past,” the investor said.
In many cases, the sellers are investment funds nearing the end of their holding periods, seeking liquidity, preparing to raise new funds or concluding that their ability to further improve the companies is limited.
AP Partners’ sale of TopGum shares totaled 144 million shekels for the remaining 10.2% stake, bringing its total proceeds from the company to 274 million shekels and generating an overall profit of 197 million shekels. The fund is preparing to raise a new $400 million fund in 2026. Its earlier sale in RP Optical in December ended a six-year investment with a total profit of 117.5 million shekels, about four times the initial investment.
Hagai Stadler, founder and partner at AP Partners, said the fund’s role is to build and improve industrial companies and eventually exit. “We invested for years and helped turn local companies into international ones,” he said. “We believe in both companies and want the next investors to succeed as we did.”
Institutional investors, meanwhile, are managing increasingly large pools of capital. Assets under management have grown by more than 1 trillion shekels over the past five years to about 3.3 trillion shekels. Monthly inflows of long-term savings and the return of funds previously invested abroad have increased pressure to deploy capital, often through deals with major shareholders.
TopGum, founded in the early 2000s as a gummy candy maker, shifted in 2019 to producing gummy-based dietary supplements, which now account for about 80% of its activity. Revenue rose 79% from 2021 to 2024 to $59 million and climbed another 55% in the first nine months of 2025 to $69 million. The company expects further growth from new production lines at its Sderot plant and rising demand in the U.S. supplements market, though a one-time charge in late 2024 has left it with a negative price-to-earnings ratio for now.
RP Optical develops thermal imaging, electro-optics, radar systems and mission electronics used in active protection systems, laser interception, drones and weapon guidance. Since its IPO in June, its shares have surged 204%, giving it a market value of about 2.7 billion shekels. The rise reflects strong demand for defense stocks amid the war in Ukraine, the conflict that erupted on Oct. 7, 2023, and the June confrontation with Iran.
Institutional investors said inclusion in the TA Defense index, launched late last year, has boosted demand from index-tracking funds. Optimism has also been fueled by statements from U.S. President Donald Trump about expanding the U.S. defense budget to $1.5 trillion.
RP Optical reported a 35% increase in revenue in the first nine months of 2025 to $29 million, while net profit rose 24% to $5.7 million. The company forecasts revenue of $48 million in 2025 and $100 million by 2027. Despite the growth, its price-to-earnings ratio has climbed sharply, from 44 at the IPO to about 125 today.