Azrieli Group

Azrieli Group is rated 3 out of 5 in the category real estate. Read and write reviews about Azrieli Group. Azrieli Group (TASE: AZRG) is Israel’s largest listed property company. It the owner of israel's prime asset portfolio in shopping centres, offices and has a growing adjacent business in senior assisted housing. Azrieli is both a developer of new buildings, and an owner and manager of its existing assets. All of the group’s activities are in Israel with the exception of some office assets in the United States. OVERVIEW Azrieli Group is the preeminent property company in Israel as personified by its landmark office and retail complex, the Azrieli Centre, in Tel Aviv, which was completed in the late 1990’s. This visionary development can be seen in parallel to those of other companies around the world, which built new business and commercial destinations, for example Canary Wharf in London, which was also started in the 1990’s. Azrieli has a strong footprint of shopping centres within the most economically attractive areas of Israel; it is generally acknowledged to have the majority of the most highly regarded shopping centres in Israel. In relation to ongoing strength in the technology sector, Azrieli’s office buildings enjoy high occupancy rates and consistent demand. Israel is a somewhat unique economy with a steady flow of immigration and a progressive shift to higher value add industries. STRATEGY Feeding into the demand within the Israeli economy, Azrieli Group has a significant pipeline of new and committed development projects. These are expected to contribute materially to its future financial returns. It has projects in offices, shopping centres, and also a relatively smaller area for the group currently, senior assisted housing. In relation to Azrieli’s position in Israel, the group believes that it enjoys a natural adjacency in its fast-growing senior assisted housing business. Azrieli Group aims to have a lower financial leverage than some of its global property company peers. The company views property itself as a relatively volatile industry, and does not wish to magnify this excessive with financial leverage. Azrieli Group also holds some non-property investments, such as stakes in Bank Leumi and Leumi Card, although these are generally being reduced. In addition, the company wholly owns Granite Hacarmel, a group of renewable energy companies. Azrieli Group would tentatively like to add property assets, probably offices, in North America, but is careful and price sensitive.