Clal Insurance Expands Shapir's Toll Road Exit with 190 Million Shekel Stake Purchase

Clal Insurance has joined Migdal Insurance and Amitim pension funds in acquiring a 20% stake from Shapir in three toll road concessions: the northern section of Highway 6, the Fast Lane between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, and Highway 16 at Jerusalem's entrance. Clal will pay 190 million shekels for the transaction. Earlier in May, Migdal and Amitim acquired 38.5% of the partnership holding these projects for 366 million shekels, valuing the partnership at 950 million shekels, the same valuation applied in the current deal with Clal.

This May transaction marked Shapir's first-ever exit in the income-generating assets sector. The current deal expands the total exit proceeds to 556 million shekels. However, while the May deal left Shapir with 61.5% control of the partnership, the Clal transaction reduces its holding to 41%, likely causing Shapir to lose control over the projects. This change will allow Shapir to record an accounting capital gain from both transactions and remove the projects' debt from its consolidated financial statements, thereby reducing leverage.

Additionally, the agreement with Clal lowered the minimum ownership threshold from 40% to 30%, enabling Shapir to bring in more partners and further expand its exit. Shapir currently holds 80% of Highway 6 North units and full ownership of the Fast Lane and Highway 16. Highway 6 North, costing 2.55 billion shekels, began operations in 2019 with a concession ending in 2049. Highway 16, operational since 2022, cost 1 billion shekels with a concession until 2044. The Fast Lane started in 2011, costing 756 million shekels, with a concession ending in 2036.

Shapir benefits from user payments on Highway 6 North and the Fast Lane, with a government safety net for the latter if toll revenues fall short. For Highway 16, the company receives a quarterly government safety net of about 21 million shekels. In 2025, profits from these projects totaled 29 million shekels, with outstanding debt of 3.1 billion shekels across the three roads.

Controlled by the Shapira brothers, Shapir operates in five sectors: industry, infrastructure, real estate, logistics, and concessions, with infrastructure and industry as core areas. The company improved its results in Q1 2026, partly due to increased project execution following the end of fighting in Gaza in late 2025. Besides the toll roads, Shapir operates Jerusalem's Red Light Rail line and is building the Green and Purple lines in the Tel Aviv metropolitan area. It is also developing three logistics centers for the IDF and a desalination plant in Ashdod.

Shapir is valued at 16.8 billion shekels, with its stock rising 61% over the past year, outperforming the Tel Aviv 125 index's 33% gain. This reflects improved company results and investor expectations for extensive government infrastructure investments using the concession model in coming years.