Ofer Yanai (b. 1975) built Nofar Energy into one of Israel's largest renewable-energy developers and reinvested into a controlling stake in Hapoel Tel Aviv Basketball Club. Personal wealth approximately ₪2 billion.
Ofer Yanai (b. February 2, 1975) built Nofar Energy into one of Israel's largest renewable-energy developers, took it public on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange in December 2020 in the largest private-company IPO of the decade, and now runs it as CEO while pushing the company into gas, AI-driven data-center power, and early-stage nuclear. He also controls approximately 40 percent of Hapoel Tel Aviv Basketball Club. Personal wealth is publicly estimated at approximately ₪2 billion. The through-line across both businesses is a single capital-allocation strategy — identify an undervalued or under-executed asset in a capital-intensive sector, reject the market's assumption about the ceiling, deploy capital and management attention aggressively.
Nofar Energy: From Kibbutz Rooftops to CEO
Ofer founded Nofar Energy in 2011. The founding thesis was solar rooftops on kibbutz land — the kibbutz owned the roof and controlled the electrical connection, Nofar owned the panels and operated the project, revenues split roughly 75/25 to the kibbutz. Nofar scaled to 131 kibbutz projects and approximately 1,000 rooftops before expanding internationally.
Nofar went public on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange in December 2020 at a valuation of roughly NIS 2 billion; the company is now worth approximately NIS 7 billion. Ofer has set a target of reaching NIS 16 billion by the end of 2028 — a threshold tied to an unconventional, all-or-nothing compensation package under which he would receive stock options worth hundreds of millions of shekels if the company hits the target, and nothing if it doesn't.
Roughly a year and a half ago, Nofar's two joint CEOs, Nadav Tene and Shahar Gershon, resigned amid a clash with institutional investors over a proposed compensation package for Ofer's preferred CEO candidate, Ami Landau. Ofer stepped into the CEO role himself rather than run a prolonged search. He describes the decision as: "There was an option to look for another CEO and lose another six months, or jump into the water."
The Pivot: Gas, AI Power Demand, and Nuclear
In July 2026, Nofar made its first move into traditional energy, paying NIS 855 million for a 47.5 percent stake in Reindeer, a private gas power plant project in the Sharon region, alongside Phoenix and partners. Ofer frames it as a deliberate signal: "We bought the Reindeer power plant as our first acquisition to signal a new direction, that we are also a fossil energy player... Reindeer is the first stop, but not the last."
His stated logic is that renewable energy alone cannot power AI data centers, which need electricity 24/7 regardless of season or weather: solar panels produce roughly 2 kWh per day in winter versus 7 kWh in summer, and matching that volatility with storage "would make it clearly uneconomical." His plan is to keep Nofar's core majority renewable while building a separate, separately capitalized fossil/AI energy arm — including a Nofar-built data center in Shoham — to serve hyperscalers directly: "Hungry players like Nvidia, Oracle and Microsoft... want to deploy data centers quickly, everywhere, and are willing to pay well."
He has also confirmed Nofar is now studying entry into small nuclear reactors, calling nuclear "something entrepreneurs have not wanted to touch until now" due to underdeveloped technology and unviable bureaucracy, but something "we are looking at and studying" given the scale of AI-driven demand. He has publicly warned that Israel's electricity system cannot support the current volume of proposed AI server-farm requests without depleting the country's gas reserves years ahead of schedule.
Nofar's storage partnership with Tesla remains one of the few direct commercial relationships between Tesla and an Israeli energy operator. In early 2026, a consortium of international institutional investors approved roughly €861 million in financing backing a European development pipeline of approximately 730 megawatts of solar and 350 megawatts of storage.
On renewable-energy rival Enlight, Ofer describes a cooperative rather than adversarial relationship: "We are supportive. There are also people from Enlight on my management team... Enlight CEO Gilad Yavetz is a Maccabi Tel Aviv fan, and after one of our Hapoel Tel Aviv games he texted me, 'Well done.'"
Hapoel Tel Aviv
In 2023, Ofer acquired 51 percent of Hapoel Tel Aviv Basketball Club from the fans' association that had run the club for years, expanding to 81 percent by July 2024. In August 2026 he sold down a portion of that stake to roughly 40 percent, citing reduced bandwidth to manage the team while serving as Nofar's CEO; partners Gili Raanan, Micky Malka, Alan Howard, and the Ussishkin Fans Association absorbed the increased percentages. Ofer has said of the dilution: "I'm happy to be at the table where I'm the least rich" — to which Malka reportedly replied, "Temporary situation."
The club's operating budget is now among the largest in the Israeli basketball premier league, competing at Euroleague level with a stated objective of reaching the Final Four. Deloitte valued the operation at NIS 12 million when Ofer joined; the most recent partner buy-in valued it at roughly NIS 250 million. Ofer has continued to push for a dedicated Tel Aviv arena (~20,000 seats) that could also host major touring concerts, arguing Tel Aviv lacks a venue of that scale for acts like Olivia Rodrigo.
The Discipline the Market Underestimates
Ofer does not diversify into unrelated sectors or accumulate passive stakes for their own sake. He walked away from a proposed 10 percent purchase of Israeli Channel 13 in November 2024 rather than commit to a media asset outside his execution capacity. His investment in his brother Shmulik's BladeRanger is characterized publicly as passive with no voting coordination. His approach to both Nofar and Hapoel is the same: take one operating asset in a capital-intensive sector and push it past a ceiling the incumbents believed was fixed.
Politics and Personal
Ofer has said he does not plan to enter politics in the near term, despite periodic media speculation tied to a future Likud succession contest: "Right now, the task is to raise Nofar to great heights, and I haven't finished it... Maybe in five years things will change." He describes his outlook as Zionist rather than partisan.
He is a single father to a daughter, whom he has raised alone since the death of his wife, Tali, from cancer in 2018 — a diagnosis that came during her pregnancy with their second child. He lives in Ra'anana, in Israel, grew up the second of eight children in a religious-national household in Yavne to a father who immigrated from Tunisia and a mother who immigrated from Libya, and has said expanding his family is now a personal priority. He established Keren Yanai as an emergency fund for IDF soldiers following the war that began in October 2023.
His older sister Peninat Yanai is Israel's Ambassador to Greece. His younger brother Shmulik Yanai is the controlling shareholder of Tel Aviv-listed BladeRanger. The family is profiled separately.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is Ofer Yanai?
Founder, controlling shareholder, and CEO of Nofar Energy, the Israeli renewable-energy developer listed on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange. Personal wealth publicly estimated at approximately ₪2 billion. Also controls roughly 40 percent of Hapoel Tel Aviv Basketball Club, down from a peak of 81 percent.
What is Nofar Energy?
One of Israel's largest renewable-energy developers, founded in 2011, listed on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange in December 2020 at a valuation of roughly NIS 2 billion, now worth approximately NIS 7 billion. Solar and storage across Israel and Europe, a Tesla storage partnership, and — as of July 2026 — a first move into traditional gas power via the Reindeer plant acquisition.
Why is Nofar moving into gas and nuclear power?
Ofer Yanai says AI data centers need continuous, weather-independent electricity that solar and storage alone cannot economically provide. Nofar plans to keep its core business majority-renewable while building a separately capitalized fossil/AI energy arm, and is studying entry into small nuclear reactors.
How much of Hapoel Tel Aviv does Ofer Yanai own?
Approximately 40 percent as of August 2026, down from a peak of 81 percent reached in July 2024. He cited reduced capacity to manage the team while serving as Nofar's CEO as the reason for the sale.
What is the Reindeer power plant deal?
In July 2026, Nofar paid NIS 855 million for a 47.5 percent stake in Reindeer, a private gas power plant project in Israel's Sharon region, alongside Phoenix and partners — Nofar's first acquisition in traditional (non-renewable) energy.
