Aura, the real estate company controlled and managed by Yaacov Atrakchi, is moving into the assisted-living business with a deal to acquire Bait BaKfar, one of Israel's oldest operators in the sector. The agreement, announced Monday, values Bait BaKfar at NIS 1.7 billion ($546.6 million), well above the company's recent market capitalization of NIS 936.4 million ($301.1 million) on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange.
Structure of the Transaction
Under the terms disclosed, Aura will buy the roughly 55% stake held by the Blustein family through five private holding companies, paying NIS 935 million ($300.6 million) in cash. The remaining shares, held by public investors, will be acquired through a full tender offer. Those shareholders will receive about NIS 229 million ($73.6 million) in cash combined, with the balance paid in Aura stock. The per-share price has been fixed at NIS 24.31 ($7.82).
For the share component, Aura has assigned itself a valuation of NIS 5.5 billion ($1.77 billion), or NIS 19.37 ($6.23) per share. Investors who end up holding Aura stock through the tender offer will collectively own 8.8% of the enlarged company once the issuance is complete - a detail that signals how much weight Aura's own equity is expected to carry in financing the purchase.
Continuity Through a Consulting Role
Yaniv Blustein, chairman of Bait BaKfar and a member of the founding family, will stay on in an advisory capacity for three years under a dedicated consulting agreement, intended to smooth the ownership transition and preserve operational continuity. He will be paid NIS 150,000 ($48,232) a month plus VAT and receive a company car. Separately, Aura has agreed to pay Bait BaKfar's managers and staff up to NIS 22 million ($7.1 million) within three months of closing, a sum that includes redemption of employee stock options - a retention mechanism common in acquisitions where institutional knowledge and client relationships are central to the business being bought.
Financing and What Aura Gains
Aura plans to fund the acquisition through a mix of its own resources, new share issuance and bank financing. The company says it has reached an agreement in principle with a bank for a long-term loan to cover most of the cash portion of the deal, a structure that will leave Aura carrying significant new debt tied to the transaction's completion.
In return, Aura gains 975 existing assisted-living residential units plus land reserves earmarked for another 884 units across three future projects. That pipeline matters: assisted living in Israel, as elsewhere, is a long-cycle business shaped by demographic aging, land scarcity and regulatory approval timelines, so a ready-made development pipeline is often as valuable as the operating portfolio itself.
Conditions Still to Be Met
The deal is not final. Completion depends on the tender offer succeeding and on a set of regulatory and financial approvals, including clearance from the Israel Competition Authority and consent from Bait BaKfar's bondholders, whose debt obligations will need to be reconciled with the change of control. The parties have given themselves 180 days to satisfy these conditions, with room for extensions if needed. If all goes through, Bait BaKfar will be delisted from public trading and become a wholly owned private subsidiary of Aura, ending its run as an independent, publicly traded operator in a sector increasingly drawing consolidation interest from larger real estate players.