Strauss is one of the largest food companies in Israel. It operates in more than 20 countries, employs approximately 15,000 workers around the world, operates 27 production sites in 22 countries, and about half of its activity is carried out outside Israel. Its shares are traded on the TA 35 index, Ofra Strauss heads the group, and the CEO is Shai Babad.
If you wondered how big it has become in recent years, today the official stamp also arrived from the state. The Concentration Committee announced the addition of the Strauss Group to the list of centralized entities and to the list of significant real corporations, after the sales turnover in 2025 crossed for the first time the threshold set by the law, approximately NIS 7 billion.
A significant real corporation is an especially large company, whose annual sales turnover exceeds NIS 6 billion, or NIS 2 billion if it is defined as a monopoly in one of the markets in which it operates. The Concentration Law is designed to prevent a situation where a few business groups hold too much power in the economy, and therefore such companies enter the list of centralized entities.
It is important to emphasize: The decision does not stem, heaven forbid, from suspicion of an offense or from improper conduct, but rather from the scope of business activity, which turned the group into a significant real corporation according to the Concentration Law.
The meaning is that from now on, if the group wants to receive a franchise or license from the state in the field of essential infrastructure, or to participate in the privatization of a government company, the state will be obligated to check how the move will affect centralization in the economy and consult with the Committee for the Reduction of Concentration before making a decision. In addition, the law does not allow a significant real corporation to also hold a significant financial entity, such as a bank, an insurance company, or a large investment house.
The Strauss Group thereby joins a list that currently includes 91 business groups, including large real corporations, banks, institutional bodies, and additional entities that the law defines as having a broad influence on the economy. As part of the same update, the Ayalon Investment House group was also added, after the volume of its managed assets crossed the threshold set in the law.
The update arrives a few months after it published particularly strong financial results. In the first quarter of 2026, the group recorded an operating profit of NIS 316 million, an increase of 67.9% compared to the corresponding period last year. Net profit jumped by 126.1% and totaled NIS 181 million.
Source:
www.jpost.com
