Arik Shtilman, the Rapyd chief executive who has bankrolled Maccabi Tel Aviv's basketball team as principal sponsor, has come back to the club's controlling family with a bigger number. ONE reports that Shtilman has submitted a fresh, non-binding offer to buy the Recanati family's 58% stake in the club for $120 million — a $20 million jump on the $100 million bid he tabled only weeks earlier.
The new proposal is not just about the headline price. According to the report, Shtilman has also committed to injecting a further $30 million directly into Maccabi's accounts immediately upon completion, with no strings attached — meaning the club's other shareholders would not need to stump up matching capital or see their holdings diluted to unlock the cash.
It is the latest twist in a messy ownership saga that has played out over the Israeli summer. Shtilman, whose company Rapyd lends its name to the team as Maccabi Rapyd Tel Aviv, signed on as principal sponsor under a seven-year deal worth $3 million a year, or $21 million in total.
He later moved to deepen his involvement by buying into Dani Felderman's Padanco Sport, acquiring 14.5% of Felderman's 29% holding in the club as part of a wider plan — alongside other investors — to pump $30 million into Maccabi and take a seat on its board.
That plan was upended when the Recanati family exercised its right of first refusal under the club's shareholders' agreement, buying out Padanco's entire 29% stake for a reported $50 million. The move lifted Udi and Shai Recanati's combined holding to 58%, handing them clear control and effectively shutting Shtilman out of the ownership structure he had been trying to enter.
Shtilman's response has been to go over the top of that deal with an outright buyout offer for the family's stake — first at $100 million, and now at $120 million plus the additional $30 million cash injection. Whether the Recanatis, who have only just consolidated control, have any appetite to sell is unclear; ONE's report characterises the offer as non-binding, and there has been no public response from the family confirming or rejecting it.
The saga underlines how unsettled the ownership picture remains at Israel's most decorated basketball club, even as it prepares for another EuroLeague campaign. For now, the figures are Shtilman's alone — the next move belongs to the Recanatis.
