Shlomo Eisenberg Increases Investment in Tel Aviv Urban Renewal Amid Market Slowdown
Despite challenges in the urban renewal sector, Shlomo Eisenberg is expanding his investment in this field through his company, Yesras. Yesras, a real estate firm controlled by Eisenberg (who holds 45% of Yesras Holdings, which in turn owns 67% of Yesras), recently increased its stake in the urban renewal company Yaaz to 10%, investing approximately 20 million shekels. Yaaz, managed by Tomer Reifman and controlled by the Yekual family (40%) and Jeremy Blank's Community Fund (44%), completed its initial public offering (IPO) on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange in August last year, raising 43 million shekels at a valuation of 212 million shekels pre-money and 255 million shekels post-money. This valuation was lower than the initial target of 300 million shekels, reflecting difficulties in the real estate market, especially in Tel Aviv.
As of the end of March, Yaaz had five projects under construction with 59 housing units for sale, including four in Tel Aviv and one in Holon. In two projects expected to complete this year, sales rates were 86% and 100%, but gross profit margins were low at 10% and 5%, respectively. For three projects completing in 2027 and 2028, sales ranged from 30% to 38%, with expected gross margins between 12% and 15%. Overall, Yaaz is involved in 71 urban renewal projects with over two-thirds of resident approval, totaling 1,284 housing units for sale.
Yaaz's revenues in the first quarter of 2026 reached 9.6 million shekels, up from 8.7 million shekels the previous year, due to progress in construction and sales. However, its operating loss surged from 400,000 shekels to 3.2 million shekels, driven by rising construction costs, increased marketing expenses, and higher administrative costs following its public listing. In 2025, the company reported a 2% revenue decline to 49 million shekels and an operating loss of 8.6 million shekels, compared to a 210,000 shekel loss in 2024. Consequently, Yaaz's stock price has fallen 27% since its IPO and currently trades at a market cap of 171 million shekels. The Tel Aviv Stock Exchange warned Yaaz in June to increase its public float from 7% to over 12.5% by year-end or face being placed on the exchange's watchlist.
Yesras initially acquired just under 5% of Yaaz shares during the IPO for about 12.5 million shekels, raised its stake to 8.6% in February with an additional 6.7 million shekels investment, and recently increased it to over 10% with a further 2.5 million shekels. Yesras primarily focuses on income-generating real estate but maintains a historical presence in residential projects. In the first quarter of 2026, Yesras reported net operating income (NOI) of 120 million shekels, a 1% increase year-over-year, and adjusted funds from operations (AFFO) rose 3% to 88 million shekels.
Other real estate companies are also seeing opportunities in the challenging residential market. In late May, Propdo acquired 49% of Oz Real Estate, active in urban renewal. In March, Intergama purchased control of Dankner-Kanlov Urban Renewal for 30 million shekels. Last November, Hadarim, controlled by Yitzhak Tshuva, acquired control of Pi Engineering, another Tel Aviv urban renewal firm, while Amram Avraham bought 50% of the urban renewal company Synco.
