Ofer Yanai Faces Basketball Setback but Drives Major Energy Business Deals

Ofer Yanai, owner of the Hapoel Tel Aviv basketball team, is enduring a challenging period after a bitter playoff final loss to Maccabi Tel Aviv, which denied his team a championship title for the first time since 1969. Adding to the turmoil, the club's star player, Yam Madar, announced on Tuesday that he is exercising his contract exit option for $300,000 and may transfer to rival Maccabi Tel Aviv.

Despite these sports setbacks, Yanai's business ventures are thriving. His company, Nofar Energy, reported two significant developments to the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange. First, it signed a major 15-year electricity purchase agreement with Cellcom Energy, a partnership equally owned by Energy Sector and Cellcom Israel, valued at approximately 820 million shekels. This deal covers electricity from independent storage facilities Nofar plans to build, expected to operate between 2027 and 2029, with a capacity of about 100 megawatts AC and total storage of 500 megawatt-hours.

Second, Nofar Energy announced an extension of its memorandum of understanding with Bank Leumi regarding refinancing negotiations for up to 2.4 billion shekels. The memorandum, originally set to expire on June 30, was extended until July 31, marking the second extension since its initial signing in July 2025. The company emphasized that no binding agreement has been signed yet, and final terms depend on completed negotiations, due diligence, and necessary approvals. If no agreement is reached by July 31, the memorandum will expire.

Following these announcements, Nofar Energy's stock surged about 10% on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, reflecting investor confidence in Yanai's business acumen despite the basketball team's recent difficulties.