Shlomo Group

Overview

The business began, literally, with two Susitas. In 1973, Shlomo Shmeltzer hired out two Israeli-made Susita cars to the Israel Defense Forces — and that was the seed of what would become Israel’s largest car-leasing group (Haaretz). From that two-car start, Shmeltzer built a conglomerate that by 2014 employed more than 5,000 people, ran annual revenues above NIS 5.5 billion, and was valued at roughly NIS 2.5 billion — a group that stayed closely held in family hands even as it swallowed shipyards, telecom equipment makers, and insurers (Haaretz).

The deal coverage that dominates search results skips all of that. In September 2023, Jared Kushner’s Affinity Partners agreed to invest about $150 million for 15% of a new Shlomo subsidiary consolidating the automotive and credit businesses at a NIS 3.8 billion valuation (Globes). The transaction was framed in the Israeli press as a milestone: the first Israeli investment by the Saudi-backed U.S. private equity firm — and, by one account, the first outside equity the family-owned group had ever taken (Ctech; Private Equity Insights). Then the Gaza war intervened, the valuation sagged, and the deal finally closed in February 2024 at $110 million — a $40 million discount and a roughly 29% fall in value between signing and closing (Ctech).

Two Susita cars and the IDF

Shlomo Shmeltzer was born in Haifa in 1947 and began his working life in the 1970s at his father-in-law’s car repair business in the city (Haaretz). In 1973 he hired out two Susita cars to the IDF — the first rental fleet of what would become the Shlomo Group (Haaretz). (Ctech dates the group’s formal founding to 1974 — the one-year discrepancy in the record of a business born in a Haifa repair shop (Ctech).)

Shmeltzer managed his empire with his hands, not just his signature. Haaretz’s 2004 portrait described a man who checked car batteries in the Shlomo garage on Saturday mornings and examined tires on a rental lot during a company visit; he told the paper he sometimes called the rental hotline from abroad “and tell[s] them there’s a defect in the car I rented. And then I hear how they respond to my ‘complaint’” (Haaretz). His growth strategy was buying failing businesses and fixing them: he bought the Maestro breakdown service in 2000 out of receivership and AFCON Industries in 2002 from a court-appointed receiver, and described himself as an “economic doctor” — “I take problematic businesses and I heal them” (Haaretz).

The acquisitions went well beyond cars. Over the years Shlomo picked up the Skoda import agency in 1991 and bought Israel Shipyards from the state in 1995 (Haaretz). His son Oren bought the Tadiran Telecom factory equipment in a 2000 receivership, made the company profitable, and Shlomo then took control of it outright; in 2003 the family bought Afcon Holdings from its receiver (Haaretz). By the time of his death the group had evolved into a conglomerate with more than 5,000 employees in contracting, energy, real estate, infrastructure, shipping and hotels, with annual revenues exceeding NIS 5.5 billion and a valuation of about NIS 2.5 billion (Haaretz).

In 2004 the automotive core was restructured: six car companies were consolidated into two — New Kopel SIXT, for operational leasing and car sales (publicly traded), and Shlomo SIXT, for car rentals, garages and towing (Haaretz). At the time the group ran 37,000 vehicles with turnover of NIS 1.8 billion; Shlomo held 51% of the combined company, and the plan was to sell up to 30% of New Kopel on the stock exchange and the rest of Shlomo SIXT to a strategic investor (Haaretz).

Shmeltzer died suddenly in July 2014 at 67, prompting tributes from Israel’s business establishment — Strauss Group’s Ofra Strauss called him “a real friend and the man who taught me how to manage a board meeting” (Haaretz). Management passed to his son Asi, who was still chairman when the Affinity deal was signed (Ctech). Notably, while the group’s bonds trade publicly, its stock never has — the family kept full ownership (Haaretz).

The Affinity deal: signed at 3.8 billion, closed at 2.7

On September 6, 2023, the group announced that Affinity Partners would invest NIS 570 million — roughly $150 million — for 15% of a newly formed subsidiary consolidating the automotive operations (leasing, rental, sales) and the credit business, at a valuation of NIS 3.8 billion (Globes; Ctech). It was reported as Affinity’s first Israeli investment — a landmark for a firm founded in 2021 and overwhelmingly financed by Saudi capital (Ctech).

The terms were unusually protective. Affinity’s stake was capped at 15%, with an 85/15 split in the new entity; the fund would appoint a director and an observer to the board, and a value-adjustment mechanism allowed Affinity’s holding to rise as high as 18% in certain scenarios (Globes). Saudi Arabia approved the investment — a necessary step given the fund’s Saudi backing (Globes). From the fifth year after closing, Affinity could demand that Shlomo buy it out or that the subsidiary pursue an IPO (Globes). Chairman Asi Shmeltzer said the agreement reflected the group’s “immense growth potential,” while Jared Kushner said he was “bullish on the long-term growth prospects of Israel and the broader new Middle East” (Globes; Ctech).

Then the market moved against both sides. The Gaza war, which began weeks after the signing, drove a selloff in Israeli equities; Shlomo’s share price plunged, and the auto-leasing subsidiary’s market capitalization fell 29% from NIS 3.8 billion to NIS 2.7 billion (Ctech). The deal closed on February 1, 2024 at $110 million for the 15% stake — a $40 million discount to the original price (Ctech). In a striking footnote, Shlomo itself lent Affinity $46.75 million to finance the purchase — the seller helping the buyer pay (Ctech). The agreement also gave the parties a 12-month window to apply for a license to hold more than 10% of Credit Path, the group’s credit company (Ctech).

The political significance of the investment grew with time. By 2026 the Shlomo stake — listed at about $110 million alongside roughly $300 million into Phoenix Financial — was being described as part of an effort to build an economic link between Saudi Arabia and Israel, with Gulf capital flowing through a Trump-family firm into the Israeli private sector (TBS News). That framing arrived in the same reporting that said Kushner was raising another $5 billion from Gulf investors while serving as a U.S. diplomatic envoy — a dual role that drew ethics scrutiny (TBS News).

What this profile does not claim

This profile does not reconcile the founding year: Haaretz’s 2004 history says Shmeltzer started in 1973 with the two Susita cars, while Ctech dates the group’s formal founding to 1974 — both are given. It does not verify current fleet, employee, or revenue figures beyond the dated datapoints (2023 fleet/market share; 2014 employees/revenues). It does not claim Affinity exercised any post-year-five buyback or IPO right. The characterization of Affinity as the group’s first outside equity investor is attributed to Private Equity Insights via Axios, not independently verified. The $110 million and $300 million figures for Affinity’s Israeli investments are the New Yorker’s via TBS News, not figures confirmed by the group.