ZIM shareholder group seeks to appoint three directors

Israeli shareholders who own more than 8% of the shares of shipping line ZIM Integrated Shipping Services (NYSE: ZIM) are seeking to appoint three directors to the company’s board of directors. Ahead of the shareholders’ meeting scheduled for next month, at which eight directors will stand for re-election, shareholders are seeking to put forward three candidates including: Dr. Keren Bar-Hava CPA, Ron Hadasi, and Ran Gritzerstein.

The letter was sent to the Board of Directors (chaired by Yair Sirosi) on behalf of the shareholder group by the lawyer. Ofir Naor, himself a shareholder in ZIM. The group’s shareholders include More Provident and Pension Funds, Reading Capital and Sparta 24.

In the letter, the shareholders point out that three of ZIM’s board members were appointed by the former controlling shareholder. Kenon Holdings (TSE: KEN, NYSE: KEN), controlled by Idan Ofer, exited its investment in ZIM last year, after a long period of control of the company. In recent months, there have been reports that ZIM CEO Eliyahu (Eli) Glickman was considering the possibility of taking control of the company and was forming a consortium to that end. The reports were not denied.

In the letter, the shareholders stated that they believe that changing the composition of the Board of Directors “will help preserve and serve the interest of all shareholders in the Company, including through actions to improve it, create shareholder value and narrow the persistent and unusual gap between the value of the Company’s assets, shareholders’ equity and cash balance on the one hand, and the market value of its shares on the other hand.” ZIM’s market capitalization on the New York Stock Exchange is $1.9 billion, while at the end of the first half of the year it had cash of $2.9 billion.

ZIM has not yet issued an updated shareholder meeting announcement to include the shareholder group’s new nominees for Board membership.

A distorted and illogical situation

circumstance. “This is an important collective move by ZIM’s minority shareholders to replace three directors, a group of institutional and private shareholders who have been working in an active and significant way to prevent the significant distortion that has been occurring at ZIM for some time,” Naor said. He said that ZIM owns more than $2.8 billion in cash, which is much higher than its market value, “and that is if we completely ignore the rest of its assets and the profits of its operations, which exceed the value of billions of dollars. This is a distorted and illogical situation, stemming from undeniable fears and rumors that the company’s management wants to benefit from the cash and the absence of the controlling shareholder to make the financial move while securing shares and jobs for itself at the expense of the public.”

Naor continued: “The group of shareholders that I represent, which is in contact with additional shareholders, will not allow this distortion.” “We have to remind everyone who has forgotten that a company has owners, and that unless they behave as they should, they will simply be replaced. Managers who forget that their job is to manage and not organize deals for themselves will discover that the various shareholders will not allow this. Institutions in Israel have proven that even in a company that does not have a controlling position, it is able to act in an active manner within its rights as shareholders.”

Published by Globes, Israel Business News – en.globes.co.il – on November 16, 2025.

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