Israeli State Delegation to Visit Nasdaq to Explore Defense Company Listings
A delegation led by Maayan Harel, deputy director-general of the Israel Government Companies Authority, will travel to Nasdaq next month to study how Israeli defense companies could go public, Globes reported. The group is expected to include representatives from Rafael and Israel Aerospace Industries, along with officials from the defense establishment. Over five days, they are scheduled to meet regulators, lawyers and underwriters to prepare a position paper on whether state-owned defense firms, or their subsidiaries, can be listed and whether they can pursue dual listings in both Nasdaq and Tel Aviv.
The trip comes amid tension with the Israel Securities Authority over the planned IPO of Israel Aerospace Industries, especially around disclosure obligations to investors versus the need to protect classified information for security reasons. The delegation will also examine how sensitive material could be handled on Nasdaq, on the assumption that doing so may be easier there than in Israel.
The IPO of Israel Aerospace Industries and Rafael has been discussed for years, but the IAI process is currently the more advanced one. The company is considered better prepared because it already has tradable bonds and publishes financial statements. The Government Companies Authority previously estimated IAI could be valued at 70 billion to 100 billion shekels.
IAI operates through four business divisions. In 2025, it reported record sales of $7.4 billion, gross profit of $1.4 billion and net profit of $712 million, and it employs about 15,000 direct workers. Its main customer is the Defense Ministry. Rafael is less ready for an IPO, but the effort to accelerate it is also advancing. At the end of March, minister David Amsalem asked the cabinet secretary to convene the ministerial committee on privatization to lock in Rafael’s listing plan during the current government. Separately, Roy Kahlon presented a plan to the finance ministry director-general calling for 30% of the company to be sold to institutional investors, followed by a Tel Aviv Stock Exchange listing, with two-thirds of the proceeds reinvested in the company. Rafael’s latest results showed a record year, with 21.67 billion shekels in revenue, 1.35 billion shekels in net profit and an order backlog above 74 billion shekels.
