Gabai Group completes Tel Aviv share offering despite wartime tragedy
Gabai Group completed its Tel Aviv Stock Exchange share offering on March 10, 2026, even though the day before two subcontractor workers were killed at its construction site in Yehud by shrapnel from an Iranian missile barrage. The victims were Rustom Golomb, 61, and Amid Murtuzov, 40, both from Petah Tikva. Despite the war and the tragedy, the company went ahead with the deal, raising 175 million shekels for 19.9% of the company at a pre-money valuation of 700 million shekels. It had originally planned to raise about 250 million shekels at a 1 billion shekel pre-money valuation. After the listing, the company’s value fell, and its stock has dropped about 15% over the past three months, compared with about 2.5% for the Tel Aviv Construction Index.
In a first interview after the offering, CEO and chair Mya Gabai-Tovul said the Yehud site had been operating under Home Front Command rules, with protected spaces and updated entry procedures, and that the company carried out an internal review and cooperated fully with investigators. She said the listing was a major milestone for the family business, founded by their father, Shimson Gabai, in the 1980s, and that “the stock market welcomed us warmly.” She also said the lower valuation still reflected strong market trust, adding that the difference between a valuation of over 1 billion shekels and 875 million shekels after the offering was minor compared with the company’s long-term plans.
Gabai Group first entered the capital market about a year earlier with a 150 million shekel bond issue, and at the end of last year raised another 395 million shekels in secured bonds. The company says it has about 1,650 housing units under construction and is advancing tens of projects totaling roughly 23,000 units in cities including Tel Aviv, Ramat Hasharon, Hod HaSharon, Modiin, Netanya, Petah Tikva, Bat Yam, Ramat Gan, Or Yehuda, Rehovot, Ashdod, Ashkelon and Sderot. Its first-quarter 2026 sales totaled 31 apartments, up from 15 a year earlier, and 112 units in all of 2025.
Gabai-Tovul said the company is fighting for every deal, offering buyers more flexible terms when they cannot close on time because they have not sold an old home, their business has slowed, or higher interest rates prevent them from getting a mortgage. She said the group uses creative solutions, such as easing linkage and late-payment interest or delaying handover for six months, and that there have been almost no cancellations in the past two to three years. She also said labor shortages and raw-material price increases are still hurting construction, but that the company’s in-house execution arm and long-term subcontractors help it keep projects moving.
