“This is a bad sign for NextVision”: Fidelity’s surprise $425 million exit rattles investors
Fidelity sold roughly 60% of its NextVision stake for about $425 million after investing $280 million just over a year ago, prompting investors to question the timing of the exit and whether the drone maker needs to diversify its growth.
Fidelity, one of the world’s largest investment groups, surprised the local market on Monday by selling the majority of its stake in NextVision in an off-exchange transaction worth NIS 1.3 billion ($425M). The stock is reacting sharply to the sale, plunging on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange today.
“Fidelity is a long-term investor. When a company seeks foreign investors, it targets firms like Fidelity, Blackstone and BlackRock, all of which are considered long-term investors. I cannot recall a case in which one of them cashed out of a position just a year after acquiring it. This is a bad sign for NextVision, and perhaps for the industry as a whole,” a senior executive at a major foreign institutional investment firm told Calcalist.
“The very fact that the sale was executed as a large block trade is uncharacteristic of a foreign institutional investor, unless we are talking about a fund like Centerbridge, which divested its stake in Phoenix because it was required to do so, and only after five years,” the executive said. “You wouldn’t see Harel, for instance, selling such a large block of shares either.”
However, he noted that there was also a positive aspect to the transaction. “The fact that foreign investors bought a large portion of the shares is a positive sign for NextVision,” he said.
Fidelity acquired its stake in NextVision in two main tranches, in March and July 2025, eventually building a position of 9.5% in the company. Yesterday, it sold shares representing 5.5% of NextVision’s capital, reducing its stake to approximately 4%.
According to the reported figures, Fidelity invested approximately $280 million in NextVision and sold roughly 60% of its position yesterday for about $425 million, or NIS 1.3 billion. Including the value of its remaining shares, the total profit on the investment is estimated at approximately $150 million.
Sources close to the matter said the sale was prompted by a change in policy at the specific Fidelity fund that held the shares, requiring it to sell positions in several companies, including NextVision.
A senior executive at a major institutional investor expressed skepticism about that explanation.
“It’s a strange explanation for a strange transaction. After all, the shares weren’t sold gradually over six months; they were sold all at once,” he said.
He added that the sale may not necessarily reflect a problem specific to NextVision. “It’s true that sometimes such moves have nothing to do with the specific company but rather with the sector as a whole. But the impression with NextVision is that the owners are overly focused on the share price.”
The executive argued that NextVision’s success has been driven by its ability to meet a very specific customer need, but that the company now needs to broaden its sources of growth.
“The company operates in a niche where it provided customers with exactly the product they needed, in the required quantity and quality, and surged as a result,” he said. “However, it cannot continue to rely solely on that. It should have made an acquisition long ago to diversify its revenue streams. It’s like someone who found an oil well in their backyard but still needs to develop it.”
NextVision reported second-quarter revenue of $88 million and a profit of $53.5 million. The company subsequently raised its annual revenue forecast to $335 million.
NextVision is chaired by Chen Golan.
