Business brief
Offshore Energy Rebound and Domestic Consolidation
US energy capital enters offshore gas basins as telecoms recapitalize and distressed domestic carriers seek consolidation.
Business
Securing Murphy Oil restores global credibility to Israel's offshore gas basins — opening deepwater exploration despite regional war risks.
BackgroundIsrael's offshore economic waters host the Leviathan, Tamar, and Karish fields, which supply domestic electricity grids and regional export pipelines to Egypt and Jordan. Zone G sits southwest of Leviathan, covering 1,700 square kilometers of prospective deepwater natural gas reservoirs.
- Murphy Oil takes operational control of Zone G with a 50% working interest alongside partner Ratio Energies, committing to complete seismic modeling within 32 months.
- The consortium must drill an exploratory well within 36 months, keeping offshore Israeli exploration on track after Italy's Eni withdrew earlier this year.
- Energy officials anticipate that commercial discoveries in Zone G will supply extra export volumes into Egyptian LNG export terminals for European delivery.
Business
Amnon Shashua is stepping back from solo sponsorship of One Zero — trading control for outside institutional capital after ₪1.2B in startup burn.
BackgroundOne Zero secured a banking charter in 2019 as Israel's first new commercial bank in four decades, aiming to break the retail duopoly of Bank Leumi and Bank Hapoalim. While the digital lender accumulated retail deposits, heavy regulatory compliance and marketing costs delayed its path to profitability.
- EY Capital Markets opened data room access to investment house Meitav and businessman Moti Ben-Moshe to evaluate direct equity investments.
- Negotiated deal structures include issuing primary equity to recapitalize the bank, potentially diluting Shashua below a controlling majority stake.
- Bank leadership maintains that expanding loan margins will push the digital lender into quarterly operating breakeven within 18 months.
- The proposed transaction tests whether institutional buyers see long-term upside in Israeli challenger banking despite elevated interest rates and entrenched incumbent dominance.
Business
Partner is monetizing record operating profits through leverage — trading a clean balance sheet to return ₪500M in cash to private owners.
BackgroundPartner Communications is one of Israel's three major mobile and fiber-optic network providers. Under chief executive Avi Gabbay, the carrier paid down debt and reached 14-year highs in operational cash flow after trimming retail cost structures.
- Controlling shareholder Amphissa Holdings, which holds a 21.2% stake in Partner, will receive roughly ₪106 million from the special distribution.
- Partner plans to issue up to ₪750 million in new Series 9 bonds on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange to fund the shareholder payout.
- S&P Maalot assigned an 'ilAA-' local rating to the debt offering, projecting Partner's net debt-to-EBITDA will temporarily rise from 0.3 to 1.1.
- Partner shares gained more than 5% on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange following the news, as investors welcomed aggressive capital extraction over conservative cash hoarding.
Business
Arkia's mounting deficits are forcing a shotgun wedding — confronting regulators with a stark choice between domestic airline bankruptcy and regional monopoly.
BackgroundIsrael's commercial aviation sector is led by flag carrier El Al, with Arkia and Israir flying regional leisure routes and the domestic Eilat shuttle. Escalating jet fuel costs and regional route disruptions have inflicted steep operating losses on both independent carriers.
- Arkia posted $30 million in operational losses over the first nine months of 2026, with full-year deficit projections reaching $60 million.
- A merged carrier would command a combined fleet of 20 aircraft, creating a stronger secondary operator better equipped to withstand foreign carrier competition.
- The Israel Competition Authority must decide whether Arkia meets the legal definition of a failing firm to justify approving a near-monopoly on Eilat flights.
- Israir controlling shareholder Rami Levy aims to combine maintenance operations and ticketing platforms to eliminate redundant administrative overhead.
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