The family trust of real estate magnate Yakir Gabay ( יקיר גבאי ) and billionaire Yitzhak Tshuva ( יצחק תשובה ), are selling Star, a jointly owned property company for $1.75 billion to US investors.
Yitzhak Tshuva originally founded Star as a private residential acquisition and development company. Since its founding, the company has acquired over 14,000 housing units in the East and South of the USA, mainly in Florida.
Tshuva introduced Yakir Gabay’s ((יקיר גבאי family trust as a partner in Star in 2016. The Trust of Gabay purchased 50% of Star’s shares from Tshuva for $150 million, reflecting an estimated valuation of $300 million. According to insiders, US investors have deposited a $5 million guarantee, with the intention for the deal to be finalized within a period of 120 days.
The appreciation in value is largely due to the joint acquisition and management of property skills of Tshuva and Gabay.
Yitzchak Tshuva owns the controlling interest in the El Ad Group, a private real estate development firm with prominent properties in Florida, Manhattan, Canada, Louisiana, and Israel. The Forbes listed billionaire (worth $3.4 billion) also owns the majority shares in the Delek Group, a listed conglomerate with interests in gas, oil and automotive.
In 2004, Yakir Gabay started the real estate activity of Grand City Properties and Aroundtown SA real estate giants, which specializes in the management and acquisition of office, residential and hotel properties. Gabay listed Aroundtown on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and Paris’ Euronext in 2015. The starting market capitalization was €1.6 billion with shares initially trading at €3.
Yakir Gabay ( יקיר גבאי ) and Aroundtown made the headlines in January 2020 when it announced a massive merger with TLG-Immobilien. This made the company the largest publicly listed commercial real estate corporation in Germany with assets of more than €28 billion, which includes a strategic investment of 40% in Grand City Properties.
Aroundtown SA (symbol: AT1), is traded on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange’s Prime Standard and is the largest listed and highest rated (S&P rating of BBB+) commercial real estate company in Germany.
Grand City Properties stock began trading in 2012 at €2.7 per share, and it had a starting market cap of €150 million. Approximately eight years later, the market cap exceeds €3.5 billion and the shares have appreciated by more than 800%.
Grand City Properties is now the fourth biggest listed residential real estate company in Germany and its portfolio includes over 70,000 German properties and more than 4,000 apartments in London.
Grand City Properties improves properties by raising occupancy and tenant levels. The company’s assets are concentrated on Germany’s most crowded areas such as North-Rhine- Westphalia, the capital city Berlin, Hamburg, and Leipzig.