Yishai Davidi, founder and CEO of the FIMI private equity fund, received a recognition award from Tel Aviv University’s Faculty of Engineering for his contribution to the Israeli economy, industry and innovation. In his remarks, he said FIMI is now “the largest industrial body in Israel and the biggest employer in the industrial economy,” and added that in 30 years the fund has not shut down a single company.
Davidi said FIMI has bought control of 108 companies and completed exits in 77, and now holds 31 companies employing about 60,000 workers. He said the fund does not buy cheap and sell expensive, but instead acquires companies with potential, improves them deeply and creates long-term growth. He also said FIMI does not invest in real estate or finance. Over the past three years, it completed 14 partial or full exits. Against investments of about $839 million in those companies, he said FIMI realized $3.6 billion in exits during the war years, when foreign investors stayed away from Israel.
This week FIMI sold about 6 percent of its stake in Bet Shemesh Engines for 500 million shekels, with Harel Insurance on the buying side. Davidi said that when FIMI entered the company in 2016, annual sales were about $77 million, while today the run-rate is about $350 million. Its order backlog has grown to about $3.5 billion, and its market value has risen from about $100 million to $2.8 billion. He attributed the turnaround to strong management, a clear strategy, growth investment, control and oversight, and operational excellence.
Separately, Publicis Israel launched its new brain capabilities suite at The George hotel in Tel Aviv, combining data, media, creative, performance and AI. CEO and chairman Yossi Lobaton said the group must move fast because the digital revolution took a decade to spread, while this time there are less than two years. He said Publicis globally has invested more than $10 billion in tech acquisitions, but AI is still mainly a decision-support tool, not full automation. He warned smaller agencies may struggle because technology and platforms are expensive.
The article also reported new appointments at Reshet 13, where Noa Tzabar became CFO and Yarden Bitran became content VP at News 13. Attorney Nadav Attias was named legal adviser and compliance officer at Ultra Finance. Finally, KAN reported 1.1 million digital views for the Argentina vs. Austria football match, a record for this World Cup.
