Horizon Capital Markets Heads to TASE Through Blue Wave

Horizon Capital Markets, an investment house founded in 2010 by Itai Lipkovich, is heading to the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange. It will list through Blue Wave Water Capital, a TASE-listed shell, in a deal Globes values at about NIS 40 million. Lipkovich will stay on as chief strategist for at least two years after the deal closes.

What are the terms of the Horizon and Blue Wave deal?

The Horizon and Blue Wave deal has two stages, each worth NIS 20 million, according to Globes and Ice. In the first stage, Blue Wave buys 49.9 percent of Horizon for NIS 20 million, subject to conditions set in the agreement.

In the second stage, Blue Wave buys the remaining shares from Lipkovich for another NIS 20 million, paid in eight quarterly installments. Globes reports that Lipkovich may take up to 19.9 percent of his proceeds in Blue Wave shares instead of cash.

Who controls Blue Wave, and what happens if Lipkovich takes shares?

Blue Wave is led by businessman Yariv Lerner, who holds 9 percent of the company, according to Globes. If Lipkovich takes the share option, Globes reports he would become Blue Wave's largest shareholder alongside Lerner.

Blue Wave is itself a small listed company. The Tel Aviv Stock Exchange company page shows a market value of NIS 14.7 million as of October 7, 2026. The page describes a holding in a firm that develops water purification technology. Calcalist puts the market value at NIS 14 million in its report on the deal.

Lerner has used listed shells before. Bizportal reported in 2022 that he previously held a shell into which the cannabis company Cannassure merged. Calcalist separately describes him as an owner of the Wecom cellular network and of Negev Ceramics.

What does Horizon Capital Markets do?

Horizon Capital Markets is a boutique investment house that manages investment portfolios, provident funds and advanced-study funds, according to Ice. Calcalist reports that the firm is based in Kiryat Motzkin, near Haifa, and manages about NIS 2 billion in assets. TheMarker's report on October 8 gives the same figure for portfolios and mutual funds.

Ice reports that Horizon's 2025 revenue reached about NIS 15.2 million, up about 52 percent from about NIS 10 million in 2024. Net profit rose to about NIS 3.47 million from about NIS 1.52 million, more than double the prior year.

Several firms in Israel use the name Horizon, including a venture capital firm and a digital-asset trading platform. This article covers only the investment house founded by Lipkovich.

How is the NIS 40 million price built?

The NIS 40 million price equals about 11.5 times Horizon's 2025 net profit of NIS 3.47 million, on Olam's arithmetic from the Ice figures. It equals about 2.6 times the 2025 revenue of NIS 15.2 million and about 2 percent of the NIS 2 billion that Horizon manages.

Blue Wave's own market value of NIS 14.7 million is about 37 percent of the price it agreed to pay. In the portions of the Globes and Ice reports available to Olam, neither explains how Blue Wave will fund the two NIS 20 million stages. That gap matters for anyone weighing the risk that the deal does not complete.

What does Lipkovich say the deal is for?

Lipkovich said in Ice's report that the agreement gives Horizon a broader base for its next stage. He named three aims: expanding the activity, continuing to develop investment management, and testing how technology capabilities can fit into the work.

The agreement keeps him at Horizon as chief strategist for at least two years after closing, according to Globes. The share option lets him take up to 19.9 percent of his proceeds in Blue Wave stock. That would tie part of his payout to the listed company's value. If he takes the stock, he becomes the largest holder next to Lerner.

How does Horizon compare with the larger investment houses?

Horizon is a small manager next to the large Israeli investment houses. Davis Polk reports that Meitav managed about NIS 383 billion for more than 1.5 million clients as of September 30, 2025. On that figure, Horizon's NIS 2 billion is about half of one percent of Meitav's assets.

Ice reported in 2023 that Altshuler Shaham managed about NIS 190 billion for about 2.3 million clients and investors. Hon.co.il, a personal-finance site, reports that control of Altshuler Shaham was sold in September 2026 in a deal of about NIS 1 billion. It also reports that the public provident and pension activity moved to Yair Levinstein and the digital insurer Vishur. Mutual funds and portfolio management stayed with the founders.

Calcalist reported a year ago that the founder of Delek US and a former Excellence chief executive were forming Aspire, a new investment house. Calcalist described the field as crowded, with a clear advantage for scale. It named very large players such as Meitav, Phoenix Investment House, Altshuler Shaham and More Investment House.

A listing gives a small manager like Horizon a public currency and a visible profile in that field. None of the reports reviewed by Olam says that is the stated reason.

How does a shell listing differ from a public offering?

A shell listing gives a private company a TASE ticker by merging into an already listed company, without running its own offering. Horizon's route contrasts with Meitav Investment House, which Gornitzky reports raised about NIS 518 million in a global offering of shares in December 2025.

The Horizon deal is about one-thirteenth of that amount by headline value. Globes calls Horizon "another investment house" on its way to the exchange, which signals that the report sees a pattern in these listings.

Shells also come from failed offerings. One Calcalist report describes a company that listed at a valuation of about NIS 250 million. Five years later, it is selling its operations to its controlling shareholder for $300,000 and becoming a shell. The listing vehicle Horizon is entering is a product of that kind of history.

For background on the venue itself, see Olam's explainer on who owns the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange.

What should readers verify before the Horizon deal closes?

Readers should verify four items in exchange filings before treating the Horizon deal as complete. Those items are the closing conditions, the funding for each NIS 20 million stage, the timing of the eight quarterly installments, and Lipkovich's share election. Globes and Ice both say the first stage is subject to conditions set in the agreement.

Blue Wave's filings on the exchange's Maya system are the place to confirm the final terms. Check them for any change to the NIS 40 million figure before quoting it.

Two further points need checking. First, an older Calcalist report on Horizon's funds gave NIS 4 billion in managed assets. Calcalist and TheMarker now give about NIS 2 billion, so the current figure belongs in the filings. Second, the reports reviewed by Olam do not say what happens to Blue Wave's existing holding in a water purification technology company after the merger.

A listed investment house must also publish periodic financial reports, which would show the profit and asset figures that today come only from press coverage. Those reports are the first test of whether Horizon's 2025 growth continues under public ownership.

The Takeaway

Treat Horizon as a small-cap listing by shell, not an offering that raises new capital. Horizon is profitable and growing, with 2025 net profit of NIS 3.47 million, but its buyer is worth about a third of the agreed price. Watch whether Lipkovich takes Blue Wave shares, because that choice decides who controls the combined company. Check the filings for closing conditions before citing the NIS 40 million valuation as final.