The Recanati family has paid $50 million to take control of Maccabi Tel Aviv’s basketball club, ending the Federman family’s decades-long run at one of Israeli sports’ most prominent clubs.
Announced Tuesday evening, the purchase lifts the Recanati stake from 29% to 58% and clears the way for what the family says will be “tens of millions of dollars” in new player spending. The deal turned on the family’s exercise of a contractual right of first refusal over Fedanco Sports, the Federman holding company that owned the 29% slice. That same vehicle had been the gateway through which Rapyd CEO Arik Shtilman was preparing to enter Maccabi’s ownership; with the right exercised, Shtilman’s entry path is closed.
The Federman family issued a brief parting line: “We will say thank you and wish them success.” The break leaves the Recanatis as the clear majority shareholder and cuts the Fedanco-Shtilman deal that had been hanging over the club for months. For a team currently working through the Euroleague Play-In race and a domestic title push, that recalibration lands in the middle of a competitive stretch.
The $50 Million Sale That Reshapes Maccabi
The Recanati family paid $50 million for Fedanco Sports’ entire 29% stake in Maccabi Tel Aviv, raising its total holding to 58% in a single transaction. Israeli business reporting on the takeover calls it “one of the most significant deals in Israeli sports in recent years.” The price was confirmed in the family’s written notice to the other shareholders. The mechanism was a contractual right of first refusal that any existing Maccabi shareholder could pull within 30 days of a competing offer.
Inside Maccabi’s cap table, the deal shifts the Recanatis from joint-largest shareholder alongside Fedanco to outright majority partner. Richard Deitz holds 17.5%, Shimon Mizrahi 14.5% and Ben Ashkenazi 10%, leaving the new majority owner as the only bloc above 17%. The fresh breakdown was disclosed by ynet and re-confirmed in the family’s shareholder notice; no third-party capital enters through the transaction.
Fedanco’s 29% had been the most contested block in the ownership, the slice that prior recapitalizations had sidestepped without ever fully settling. The Recanati refusal collapses that plan before a shareholder vote.
- Deal price: $50 million for the Fedanco Sports stake (Globes, ynet; July 7, 2026)
- Stake sold: 29% of Maccabi Tel Aviv (Fedanco Sports, the Federman family vehicle)
- Recanati stake post-deal: 58%, up from the previous 29%
- Other holders unchanged: Deitz 17.5%, Mizrahi 14.5%, Ashkenazi 10%
- Earlier Fedanco-Shtilman proposal: $30 million in new investment, contingent on shareholder approval that was never held
How the Right of First Refusal Got Pulled
The transaction’s pivot was a clause in Maccabi’s shareholders’ agreement that gave every existing owner the right to acquire Fedanco’s stake in full if it changed hands. Per ynet, that right had to be exercised within 30 days; the Recanati family pulled it Tuesday. The proposed Shtilman investment sat inside Fedanco Sports itself, a structure the Recanatis have now collapsed by claiming the entire 29% block ahead of any third-party completion.
Shtilman did not foresee that move. In an interview with ynet and Yedioth Ahronoth roughly six weeks before the announcement, he flatly ruled out the option being used: “I do not believe in any world that someone is going to exercise that right. It is not right for the team and not right for them.” He added that he had already spoken to “all the owners except Recanati because he was abroad” and understood from Shimon Mizrahi that there was “no intention of delaying or preventing the deal.” Six weeks later, that read of the room was wrong. After the sale was announced, Shtilman posted on X: “I have always been a Maccabi fan, and I will remain a Maccabi fan. I wish the Recanati family great success. Yalla Maccabi!” The post is gracious but tracks with what the Recanati takeover coverage calls the deal’s likely fallout: Shtilman, who entered the talks with “great fanfare and promises,” will “likely find himself outside the ownership structure.” The published reports do not address whether Shtilman keeps any residual Fedanco paper after the purchase.
Why the Recanatis Pressed the Button Now
Maccabi insiders describe the decision as the product of long-simmering tension inside the ownership group, not a sudden move. Per the club, the Recanatis had opposed the deal Federman struck with Shtilman from the start. The breaking point, ynet reports, was “the conduct surrounding the Yam Madar deal.” After the friction over that move, the family concluded the partnership would not work. The Yam Madar transaction had been one of the most sensitive roster moves of the recent cycle inside the ownership group.
The exact friction around that move is not spelled out in the published reporting; officials say only that the family concluded they had to act. One club official called the right-of-first-refusal move “a very extreme step.” The Recanati family has not publicly explained its thinking beyond the shareholder notice and a short statement promising investment.
What is clear is that the move sidelines the $30 million Rapyd-aligned investment proposal Fedanco Sports had agreed to earlier in the year. Under that earlier proposal, Shtilman was to acquire 50% of Fedanco Sports and join Maccabi’s board as its representative. Fedanco Sports and Shtilman had also agreed to inject $30 million into the club alongside outside investors, contingent on shareholder approval. That approval was never put to a vote, a step the Recanatis have now made moot.
The Recanati purchase removes both the contingent board seat and the contingent capital from the table. Shtilman has not disputed the takeover in public; his X post and his older ynet interview both read as accepting the change in direction. Fedanco Sports, as a vehicle, no longer exists in the ownership structure once the paperwork completes. The original Fedanco proposal that brought Shtilman in had hinged on those exact terms, all contingent, all now resolved in the Recanatis’ favor. With the family holding 58%, future investor entries into Maccabi will require their approval alone, a structural change from the prior shared control.
The New Ownership Map and What the Family Promises
Once the deal closes, the Recanati family sits on 58% of Maccabi Tel Aviv.
| Shareholder | Pre-deal stake | Post-deal stake |
|---|---|---|
| Recanati family | 29% | 58% |
| Fedanco Sports (Federman family) | 29% | 0% |
| Richard Deitz | 17.5% | 17.5% |
| Shimon Mizrahi | 14.5% | 14.5% |
| Ben Ashkenazi | 10% | 10% |
Richard Deitz, Shimon Mizrahi and Ben Ashkenazi keep 17.5%, 14.5% and 10%, respectively, in proportions that have held through several prior restructurings. No new third party has been added by this purchase; the family simply expanded its 29% position into a controlling stake. The reshuffle also drops Fedanco Sports out of the cap table entirely.
Alongside the closure, the family has committed to a multiyear player-budget expansion. The Recanati statement said the family “intends to invest tens of millions of dollars in the player budget in the coming years.” That promise lands after a year in which Maccabi supporters publicly campaigned against Fedanco over what they called a stretched budget. For a club working through Maccabi’s tense Euroleague Play-In race this season and a domestic title push, the budget ceiling can now move on a Recanati-only vote.
End of the Federman Era at Maccabi Tel Aviv
The Federman connection to Maccabi long predates the ownership table. David Federman was the son of Yitzhak Federman, “one of the first players in the club’s basketball department,” per ynet. David later became Maccabi’s main sponsor through the Elite company, holding that role until 2008. In the early 2000s he was a central partner in the club’s transition to private ownership, one of three figures (alongside Mizrahi and Udi Recanati) most identified with Maccabi’s run in Israel and Europe.
The Federman family held 29% of Maccabi’s shares through those decades; David served on the board and was vice chairman. His son Danny joined the board, was appointed co-CEO alongside Eli Driks in 2011, and remained central to management even after leaving that post. David Federman died in February 2026, but the family remained one of the club’s main power centers until this week’s announcement.
Udi Recanati, alongside David Federman and Shimon Mizrahi, was the less publicly visible of the three pillars. A 2009 inflection point, after Raanan Katz’s exit, took the family stake from about 17% to 40%. That move laid the groundwork for the 29% pre-deal figure the family held until this week. The 2011 appointment of Udi’s son Shai as vice chairman brought the next generation formally into the management structure.
We will say thank you and wish them success.
The parting line came from the Federman family in a written statement distributed to club shareholders on Tuesday, and ynet published it the same evening. The break closes a chapter in Maccabi’s ownership that started in the early 2000s and ended in a single shareholder notice. Officials at the club described the family’s decision as a complete surprise. One official called the move “a very extreme step.” The right-of-first-refusal pull also collapses the Fedanco-Shtilman proposal on the same day, as the front office rebuilds around Kenny Miller’s recent path to the Maccabi head coach role.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much did the Recanati family pay for the additional stake?
The Recanati family paid $50 million for Fedanco Sports’ entire 29% stake in Maccabi Tel Aviv, lifting its total holding from 29% to 58%. The figure was first reported by Globes on July 7, 2026, and confirmed in the family’s written shareholder notice.
Who sells to whom in the Maccabi Tel Aviv ownership change?
The Recanati family bought 100% of Fedanco Sports, the Federman family’s holding company. Richard Deitz, Shimon Mizrahi and Ben Ashkenazi retain their existing 17.5%, 14.5% and 10% slices, respectively, and no third party entered through this transaction.
What happens to the Rapyd CEO Arik Shtilman deal?
The proposed investment in which Shtilman was to take 50% of Fedanco Sports and a board seat is now off the table. Globes reports he “will likely find himself outside the ownership structure,” and Shtilman has not publicly contested the takeover.
Why did the Recanati family act now?
Per ynet, the family concluded after “the conduct surrounding the Yam Madar deal” that a partnership with Shtilman would not work. They then exercised a contractual right of first refusal on Fedanco’s stake rather than let the Shtilman-Fedanco arrangement complete.
When does the deal close?
The published reports describe the announcement as the exercise of the right on Tuesday; final settlement paperwork was not dated in the coverage available at publication.
