HAP Investment Developers plans to launch an initial public offering on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange later this year, the latest in a line of New York City developers going to Israel for capital.
HAP is looking to raise $30 million, or roughly 120 million shekels, in an offering slated for the fourth quarter of 2015. The firm issued a draft prospectus this week, as first reported by Israeli newspaper Calcalist.
CEO Eran Polack said the firm was considering a bond offering before Extell Development and Brookland Capital raised a combined $305.5 million last year. That offering marked the first time U.S.-based developers sought funding for domestic projects via the Israeli market.
“Money is flowing [into Israel] from mutual funds and pension funds,” Polack told The Real Deal. “We have a very good reputation in Israel and have done business there for 20 years.”
HAP has developed more than 20 condominium projects in Israel, he added.
The firm was looking to launch the offering earlier this year, but shareholders decided to wait amid news of the Related Companies and GFI Capital Resources Group announcing plans to seek $200 million on the stock exchange last week.
“We are waiting for the appropriate market time,” Polack said.
Polack, Amir Hasid and Nir Amsel launched HAP in the 1990s with investments in Kiev, Budapest, Hungary and later Tel Aviv. In the latter location, the firm is known as HAP Services Israel.
HAP, which frequently collaborates with architect/designer Karim Rashid, is at work on four mid-sized projects in Manhattan and a $400 million, 42-story residential tower in Jersey City.