Former controlling shareholder Apax reduces Max Stock stake

Apax Group’s Apax Midmarket Israel (AMI) Opportunities Fund today sold shares in discount retail chain Max Stock (TASE: MAXO) for NIS 300 million, together with the chain’s founder and CEO Ori Max who sold shares for NIS 50 million.

As part of the deal, outside of the TASE, AMI managed by Zehavit Cohen, sold an 8% stake at a 5% discount on today’s share price.

For AMI, this is the third sale of Max Stock shares in the past year, after it sold shares last June for NIS 120 million, and in September it sold additional shares for NIS 200 million. Following the sales, the fund’s holding in the company has fallen to 8% (compared to 28.2% before the sales began).

After today’s sale, Ori Max saw his holding fall to 16.5%.

The company will not have a controlling shareholder

Following the deal, Max Stock is expected to operate as a company without a controlling shareholder, given the fact that the control agreement between Max and AMI has come to an end, after the fund dropped from a 10% holding.

AMI acquired control of Max (55%) in 2017 from ori Max and businessman Evan Neumann, for NIS 170 million and at a company valuation of NIS 310 million.

In Max Stock’s IPO five years ago, AMI sold shares for about NIS 460 million. This together with the sales in the past year (for NIS 620 million) and its remaining holdings (worth NIS 315 million), reflect an eight-fold return on the original investment less than a decade ago.

Max Stock, which operates 64 retail store branches, was founded in 2004 by Ori Max, who is currently CEO and sits on the board of directors. The company’s IPO was at a valuation of about NIS 1.7 billion. In the past year, Max Stock’s share price has jumped by about 145%, and it is currently trading at a market cap of about NIS 3.8 billion.

In the first three quarters of 2025, Max Stock reported revenue of NIS 1.07 billion, up 7% from the corresponding period of 2024, while net profit over the same period rose 13% to about NIS 104 million. This was due to a continuous increase in the company’s scale of operations, as well as an improvement in gross and operating profitability.

Published by Globes, Israel business news – en.globes.co.il – on January 8, 2026.

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