Solel Boneh

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Solel Boneh

Type	Public company
Founded	1921
Founder	The Histadrut
Headquarters	, Israel
Key people	Yehoshua Rapaport (CEO) Uri Shani (head of directors)
Industry	Construction, Civil engineering, Infrastructure, Roads and Logistics planning
Revenue	1.7 billion USD in 2004
Owner	Housing & Construction Holding Company Limited
Website	www.solbo.co.il

Solel Boneh (Hebrew: סולל בונה‎, lit. Paving and Building) is the oldest, and one of the largest, construction and civil engineering companies in Israel.

[edit] History

Solel Boneh was founded in 1921 during the first conference of the General Histadrut, under the name of Batz (Hebrew: בע"ץ‎), an acronym of Binyan veAvoda Tziburiot (Hebrew: בניין ועבודות ציבוריות‎, lit. Construction and Public Works). Its first project was to pave a road from Safed to Tzemah, which is now part of Highway 90. The company was founded as a cooperative organization in the spirit of socialist workers' groups, but it encountered financial difficulties, which led in 1923 to the founding of a company named "Solel Boneh," based on the organization but managed as a business corporation.

Solel Boneh had an integral role in building in Mandate Palestine and after Israeli statehood was achieved in 1948. Among other projects, the company built the Northern Israel Fence (the "Tegart Wall") in 1938. During the Mandate era it built bridges, airfields, bases for the British Army and army projects in Iraq, Egypt, Bahrain and Cyprus.

Solel Boneh helped strengthen the Israel Defense Forces during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, and it built strongholds and systems to supply water, in practise becoming the basis of the first logistics unit in the IDF.

In 1961, shares of Solel Boneh were first traded on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange.

In 1984, a subsidiary, Solel Boneh Building and Infrastructure, was founded under full control of the parent company. In 1989, control of Solel Boneh was passed on to Housing & Construction Holding Company Limited (Shikun U'Binui). In 1996, control of that holding company, including Solel Boneh, was passed on to Ted Arison and later to his daughter, Shari Arison, after his death in 1999.