2026 was forecast to be a five-year peak for IPOs on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange. In view of the sustained rise in the local stock market and the appetite of investors for new high-quality merchandise, dozens of companies are currently preparing to offer their shares.
Will the war with Iran stop the expected wave of flotations? Extreme events have in the past derailed IPOs. The Israel Securities Authority decided this week to approve the deferral of the filing of prospectuses until April 9.
A senior source in the flotations market explained to “Globes” that new companies prefer to make offerings on the basis of annual financial statements, and they now have less than a month to file a prospectus on the basis of their 2025 statements. “It’s easier, so as not to have to break down the reports at this stage into comparisons of quarterly results. But there are always companies that don’t manage to file in time, and then they have to redraft the prospectus on the basis of first quarter figures, which entails changes in many pages of the prospectus. I estimate that the Securities Authority’s decision will help one or two more companies to meet the timetable.”
Flotations by Zoom
According to senior capital market sources, despite the missile salvoes from Iran, preparations for IPOs are currently proceeding as normal. “There is no halt whatsoever,” one underwriter said, and another senior source added that “I know of no flotation that has been called off or postponed. The machine has not stopped.”
What has happened is a switch to remote working. Two sources said that underwriting companies had resorted to meetings on Zoom. “People are working from home, even investment managers, certainly those with small children, so that’s the most logical way of proceeding at the moment,” a senior manager in an underwriting firm said. Another source said that in his firm the situation was different. “Most of the employees are coming to the office. If there’s an air-raid siren, we stop for ten minutes and then go back to work. It’s only a temporary inconvenience.”
One underwriter, however, says that things have come to a halt to some extent. “We’re postponing flotations of small companies or complex deals because everyone has children going stir crazy at home and they have less attention span for these things. So we’re dropping down a gear, deferring to next week, and waiting for the market to be better and for people to be more free mentally. In any event, it’s a delay of a week or two.
“But for offerings of large and sought-after companies such as Tidhar there is demand. The institutions will fight to get in, because these are large deals by high-quality companies.”
The primary market in Tel Aviv recovered impressively last year, with 21 new flotations. In the previous three years (2022-2024) there were 18 flotations altogether, because of the rise in interest rates around the world, which caused markets to fall, and after that the judicial overhaul and the Swords of Iron war. The market is therefore confident that this year will see a five-year peak.
“At present there are 50 flotations open, so it’s clear that there will be more than 21 new companies this year,” a senior market source says. The only thing that could spoil the party is “if the stock market suddenly drops 20% because of the war with Iran. At the moment the market is strong, but when markets fall sick, there are no flotations.” “Everything depends on how the markets react to the end of the war; that’s what will dictate events,” another source says.
“May will be crowded”
Which companies are investors looking for at the moment? The underwriting market is mainly going for defense companies, but well-established and profitable companies in sectors such as real estate, food, and financial services as well. “And anyone who doesn’t complete an equity offering will issue bonds,” a market source estimates.
Among the companies on the way to a flotation are real estate companies Tidhar, Avisror, Gabay Group (which has announced completion of the process), Guy and Doron Levy, and also BSR Engineering, which has already issued bonds. Defense companies such as Bagira Systems and Rafael’s DSIT are at advanced stages of flotations. Then there are Shlomo Insurance, food companies Tnuva and Galam, pharmaceuticals company Rafa, paints manufacturer Tambour, which seeks to return to the stock exchange, and many others.
March is generally a week month for IPOs in any case. “Companies are waiting for the annual reports, there isn’t much before that. The previous IPOs were on the basis of the third quarter results, and they took place in February (Prodalim, Alltrade, and also Smart Shooter in early March, N.A.). The IPOs on the basis of annual reports take place in April-May, and because of Passover the wave will probably start in the second half of April, ‘after the holiday.’ In April-June there will be a double-digit number of IPOs, with May being very crowded,” a market source estimates.
Five flotations have taken place on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange in 22026 to date. The best performer is defense company Smart Shooter, which produces fire control systems and whose flagship product is a smart gunsight for small arms. Within a few days its share price shot up by more than 30%. After it comes recycling company Alltrade (in which Teddy Sagi is a major shareholder), and Rami Levy Real Estate has also given a positive return so far. On the other hand, food flavors and aromas company Prodalim has lost more than 10%.
As for the 2025 IPO crop, it has so far yielded an average return of almost 32%. Thirteen of the newly floated companies have positive returns. The most outstanding ones are defense company RP Optical, which has soared by 340% since its flotation to a market cap of NIS 3 billion, followed by food company Baladi, which has climbed by more than 140% to a market cap of over NIS 2 billion.
Published by Globes, Israel business news – en.globes.co.il – on March 12, 2026.
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd., 2026.
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