Bill Ackman, founder and CEO of Pershing Square Capital Management.
Adam Jeffery | CNBC
Hedge fund billionaire Bill Ackman and his wife Neri Oxman are buying a nearly 5% stake in the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, the exchange reported in a news release on Wednesday.
The announcement came as the Israeli Stock Exchange announced the price of a secondary offering of 17,156,677 shares, or 18.5% of their market value, at 20.60 shekels ($5.50) per share, representing the purchase price by Ackman and his wife was valued at $17.3 million.
“The transaction attracted strong interest from investors across Israel, the United States, Europe and Australia and reflected a strong vote of confidence in both the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange and the Israeli economy as a whole,” the statement said.
“High-profile buyers included Neri Oxman and Bill Ackman, who have agreed to acquire an approximately 4.9% stake in TASE.” The exchange plans to “use the net proceeds from this offering to invest in its technology infrastructure.” , added her.
Ackman, the CEO and founder of New York-based Pershing Square Capital Management, has been a vocal supporter of Israel since the Hamas terrorist attack on the country on October 7, which triggered an Israeli ground invasion of the Gaza Strip. His wife Neri Oxman is an American-Israeli architectural designer and professor.
According to a report by Bloomberg, the purchase is Ackman's first investment in Israel since the start of the war. Ackman, who is Jewish, became embroiled in a dispute with Harvard University – his alma mater – after more than 30 of its student groups signed a statement placing full blame for the Oct. 7 Hamas-led attack, in which 1,200 people were killed and a further 240 hostages were taken to Israel.
Ackman called on the social media site X, formerly Twitter, for Harvard to publish the students' names so Wall Street employers wouldn't hire them. He then published on
Ackman later pushed for Gay's resignation, claiming the academic leader was guilty of plagiarism and not doing enough to address anti-Semitism at the university. Although she managed to keep her job after testifying in a heated congressional hearing about hate speech and anti-Semitism on campus, the controversy led Gay to ultimately resign in early January.
The hedge fund titan describes himself as both pro-Palestinian and pro-Israel, writing in a post in late October @X for Israel, but you shouldn't be. I am anti-terrorist, not anti-Palestinian. It is not contradictory to be pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian.”
He added: “My pro-Palestinian perspective began more than 30 years ago when I learned about the Palestinian community and its plight in the early 1990s.” He added that he had “invested millions to promote economic development and peaceful peace To promote coexistence among Palestinians.”