Israeli
Israeli may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to the State of Israel
* Israelis, citizens or permanent residents of the State of Israel
* Modern Hebrew, a language
* ''Israeli'' (newspaper), published from 2006 to 2008
* Guni Israeli ...
billionaire
A billionaire is a person with a net worth of at least one billion (1,000,000,000, i.e., a thousand million) units of a given currency, usually of a major currency such as the United States dollar, euro, or pound sterling. The American busin ...
real estate and shipping magnate, and a philanthropist. He is the chairman of Ofer Global,
Zodiac Group
Zodiac Aerospace was a French aerospace group founded in 1896 that supplied systems and equipment for aircraft. It had around 100 sites across the globe and employed nearly 35,000 people. In October 2018, it was acquired by French aerospace an ...
and Global Holdings.
Biography
Eyal Ofer was born in 1950 in
Haifa
Haifa ( he, חֵיפָה ' ; ar, حَيْفَا ') is the third-largest city in Israel—after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—with a population of in . The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-most populous metropol ...
Sammy Ofer
Sammy Ofer ( he, שמואל "סמי" עופר; born Shmuel Herskovich; 22 February 1922 – 3 June 2011) was an Israeli shipping magnate and one of the richest men in the country.
Early life
Shmuel Herskovich was born in 1922 in Galați, Romania ...
Atlantic College
Atlantic College (formally the United World College of the Atlantic; alternatively styled UWC Atlantic College, UWCAC, or UWCA) is an independent boarding school in the Vale of Glamorgan in south Wales. Founded in 1962, it was the first of ...
, an international boarding school affiliated with the
United World Colleges
United World Colleges (UWC) is an international network of schools and educational programmes with the shared aim of "making education a force to unite people, nations and cultures for peace and a sustainable future." The organization was founde ...
, based in
St Donat's Castle
St Donat's Castle ( cy, Castell Sain Dunwyd), St Donats, Wales, is a Middle Ages, medieval castle in the Vale of Glamorgan, about to the west of Cardiff, and about to the west of Llantwit Major. Positioned on cliffs overlooking the Bristol Ch ...
,
Wales
Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...
. In his teenage years, he spent summers working on one of his family's ships, loading cargo, scraping the boats' sides and repainting them, as well as traveling to international ports.
He served as an intelligence officer in the
Israeli Air Force
The Israeli Air Force (IAF; he, זְרוֹעַ הָאֲוִיר וְהֶחָלָל, Zroa HaAvir VeHahalal, tl, "Air and Space Arm", commonly known as , ''Kheil HaAvir'', "Air Corps") operates as the aerial warfare branch of the Israel Defense ...
from 1967 to 1973. He then studied Maritime Law at the
University of London
The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...
.
Career
Ofer's business interests are concentrated in shipping, cruise lines and global real estate within the Ofer Global group, a Monaco-based private company focused on shipping, real estate, oil and gas, banking and investments in Europe, North America, the Near East and Asia.
In 2014, he received an honorary lifetime membership of the
Baltic Exchange
The Baltic Exchange (incorporated as The Baltic Exchange Limited) is a membership organisation for the maritime industry, and freight market information provider for the trading and settlement of physical and derivative contracts. It was locate ...
in London in recognition of his contribution to shipping in the UK and global maritime trade. Other recipients of this award have included the Duke of Edinburgh, Winston Churchill, and Maersk Mc-Kinney.
Ofer is ranked by '' Lloyd’s List'' which, in 2014 and 2021, named him seventh among the top 100 most influential people in the shipping industry, and tenth in 2016.
He is a frequent speaker at industry events, including the
Milken Institute
The Milken Institute is an independent economic think tank based in Santa Monica, California with offices in Washington, DC, New York, Miami, London, Abu Dhabi, and Singapore. It publishes research and hosts conferences that apply market-based p ...
Global Conference in 2012, 2013 and 2015. Ofer also regularly attends the
World Economic Forum
The World Economic Forum (WEF) is an international non-governmental and lobbying organisation based in Cologny, canton of Geneva, Switzerland. It was founded on 24 January 1971 by German engineer and economist Klaus Schwab. The foundation, ...
’s annual meeting in Davos.
In 2018, Ofer joined the Advisory Board of the Bloomberg New Economy Forum. The board is made up of a group of leaders in their fields from business, government, education and philanthropy including
David Rubenstein
David Mark Rubenstein (born August 11, 1949) is an American billionaire businessman. A former government official and lawyer, he is a co-founder and co-chairman of the private equity firm The Carlyle Group,Gary Cohn and Mukesh Ambani.
In March 2021, ''
Forbes
''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also re ...
'' estimated his net worth at US$11.1 billion. In January 2022, ''Bloomberg'' reported his net worth to be US$16.7 billion.
Property
Ofer first moved to New York City in 1980 to start the family real estate business, and invested in properties on
Park Avenue
Park Avenue is a wide New York City boulevard which carries north and southbound traffic in the boroughs of Manhattan and the Bronx. For most of the road's length in Manhattan, it runs parallel to Madison Avenue to the west and Lexington Avenu ...
South, which he rented to law firms and public relations firms through his real estate company, Global Holdings. Over the years, he assembled a real estate empire having acquired a deep knowledge of ships which had made him comfortable with managing similarly tangible assets.
Ofer is the chairman of Global Holdings, a private real estate holding company specializing in large-scale commercial real estate and high-end residential developments. Its holdings include prime commercial properties in Manhattan, and a controlling stake in Miller Global Properties, a large real estate investment fund focusing on key markets in North America and Europe. He serves as Miller Global's co-chairman. Global Holdings' commercial projects include, among others, and 120 Park Avenue – the former headquarters of the
Altria Group
Altria Group, Inc. (previously known as Philip Morris Companies, Inc.) is an American corporation and one of the world's largest producers and marketers of tobacco, cigarettes and related products. It operates worldwide and is headquartered in ...
.
Its residential projects include
15 Central Park West
15 Central Park West (also known as 15 CPW) is a luxury residential condominium along Central Park West, between 61st and 62nd Streets adjacent to Central Park, on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City. It was constructed from 2005 t ...
Saint Vincent's Catholic Medical Center
Saint Vincent Catholic Medical Centers of New York d/b/a as Saint Vincent's Catholic Medical Centers (Saint Vincent's, or SVCMC) was a healthcare system, anchored by its flagship hospital, St. Vincent's Hospital Manhattan, locally referred to a ...
), together with the redevelopment of 18 Gramercy Park South, 520 Park Avenue and 50 United Nations Plaza (all in partnership with Zeckendorf Development). 18 Gramercy Park South (ranked the most expensive Manhattan development in 2013) and 15 Central Park West were designed by architect
Robert A. M. Stern
Robert Arthur Morton Stern, usually credited as Robert A. M. Stern (born May 23, 1939), is a New York City–based architect, educator, and author. He is the founding partner of the architecture firm, Robert A.M. Stern Architects, also known a ...
. 50 UN Plaza is a 44-story tower designed by London-based architects
Foster and Partners
Foster + Partners is a British architectural, engineering, and integrated design practice founded in 1967 as Foster Associates by Norman Foster. It is the largest architectural firm in the UK with over 1,500 employees in 13 studios worldwide.
...
. Today, Ofer’s portfolio includes more than 50 properties in four countries.
Shipping
Ofer started his career in international maritime transportation in all the major shipping segments in the 1980s.
He is the chairman of
Zodiac Group
Zodiac Aerospace was a French aerospace group founded in 1896 that supplied systems and equipment for aircraft. It had around 100 sites across the globe and employed nearly 35,000 people. In October 2018, it was acquired by French aerospace an ...
, a privately held Monaco-based ship owning and chartering (i.e. leasing) company with a fleet of more than 150 vessels. It is the largest operator of vessels under the Red Ensign by tonnage. Ofer has been a director of
Royal Caribbean Cruises
Royal may refer to:
People
* Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name
* A member of a royal family
Places United States
* Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community
* Royal, Illinois, a village
* Royal, Iowa, a ci ...
, the second largest cruise company in the world, since May 1995 and holds a significant stake in the company.
In 2016, Ofer was ranked 10th in the Lloyd’s List Top 100 Most Influential People in the Shipping Industry. According to Lloyd’s List, “the consensus view from those who know Eyal Ofer best is that he is a man who understands the markets with forensic detail”.
Ofer is said to control the 20th biggest fleet in the world.
In 2021, a merchant tanker managed by Zodiac Maritime suffered a drone attack which killed two people. The US military announced that the drone had been produced in Iran.
Energy
Through O.G. Oil & Gas, the oil and gas arm of Ofer Global's O.G. Energy division, Ofer has exploration and production interests in the
Australasia
Australasia is a region that comprises Australia, New Zealand and some neighbouring islands in the Pacific Ocean. The term is used in a number of different contexts, including geopolitically, physiogeographically, philologically, and ecologica ...
and South East Asia region. In 2017, O.G. Oil & Gas made a partial takeover offer for a majority stake in New Zealand Oil & Gas, which resulted in it acquiring nearly 70% of the company.
In October 2018, O.G. Energy agreed to acquire a 40 per cent stake in
Beach Energy
Beach Energy Limited is an Australian oil and gas exploration and production company based in Adelaide, South Australia. Formerly known as Beach Petroleum, the company changed its name to Beach Energy in December 2009. It is a component of the S&P ...
’s
Otway Basin
The Otway Basin is a northwest trending sedimentary basin located along the southern coast of Australia. The basin covers an area of 150,000 square kilometers and spans from southeastern South Australia to southwestern Victoria, with 80% lying off ...
assets off the south east coast of Australia.
Ofer is also the principal of OMNI Offshore Terminals, the largest provider of floating production storage and offloading (FSO & FPSO) assets to the offshore oil and gas industry. Founded in 1990, the Singapore–headquartered company has delivered 23 conversion projects, 2 FPSO and 21 FSO.
Technology
Ofer has interests in technology companies through O.G. Tech, the tech investment arm of Ofer Global. O.G. Tech is a
venture capital fund
Venture capital (often abbreviated as VC) is a form of private equity financing that is provided by venture capital firms or funds to startups, early-stage, and emerging companies that have been deemed to have high growth potential or which hav ...
disruptive technologies
In business theory, disruptive innovation is innovation that creates a new market and value network or enters at the bottom of an existing market and eventually displaces established market-leading firms, products, and alliances. The concept wa ...
.
In January 2018, the fund participated in the
Series B
A venture round is a type of funding round used for venture capital financing, by which startup companies obtain investment, generally from venture capitalists and other institutional investors. The availability of venture funding is among the ...
funding round of Bringg, a delivery logistics platform for enterprises. This follows the fund's participation in the November 2017 funding round of Arbe Robotics, a Tel Aviv startup developing a high-resolution radar system for
self-driving cars
A self-driving car, also known as an autonomous car, driver-less car, or robotic car (robo-car), is a car that is capable of traveling without human input.Xie, S.; Hu, J.; Bhowmick, P.; Ding, Z.; Arvin, F.,Distributed Motion Planning for S ...
. It has also invested in enSilo and Secdo, companies which offer cybersecurity and data protection services, as well as ClipCall which brings technology to home maintenance and improvement.
Philanthropy
Ofer is a supporter of artistic, educational and cultural institutions – including the Tate Modern and the National Maritime Museum in the UK and the
Tel Aviv Museum of Art
Tel Aviv Museum of Art ( he, מוזיאון תל אביב לאמנות ''Muzeon Tel Aviv Leomanut'') is an art museum in Tel Aviv, Israel. The museum is dedicated to the preservation and display of modern and contemporary art from Israel and aroun ...
– through the Eyal & Marilyn Ofer Family Foundation, which continues his family's philanthropic tradition.Pendleton, Devon "Israeli Billionaire Ofer Makes Gift to Expand Tate Modern" ''Bloomberg Business'', July 4, 2013. Accessed 21 October 2015.
Ofer is chairman of the Foundation.
Eyal was one of the donors to the ''Gloriana'' during the
Diamond Jubilee of Elizabeth II
The year 2012 marked the Diamond Jubilee of Elizabeth II being the 60th anniversary of the accession of Queen Elizabeth II on 6 February 1952. The only diamond jubilee celebration for any of Elizabeth's predecessors was in 1897, for the 60th an ...
in 2012.
Through his family Foundation, in 2013, he donated £10 million to expand the
Tate Modern
Tate Modern is an art gallery located in London. It houses the United Kingdom's national collection of international modern and contemporary art, and forms part of the Tate group together with Tate Britain, Tate Liverpool and Tate St Ives. It is ...
museum in London. As a result, the exhibition gallery on the third floor bears his name. He gave £1.5 million to the National Maritime Museum
National Maritime Museum
The National Maritime Museum (NMM) is a maritime museum in Greenwich, London. It is part of Royal Museums Greenwich, a network of museums in the Maritime Greenwich World Heritage Site. Like other publicly funded national museums in the United ...
to allow it to keep two 18th-century
George Stubbs
George Stubbs (25 August 1724 – 10 July 1806) was an English painter, best known for his paintings of horses. Self-trained, Stubbs learnt his skills independently from other great artists of the 18th century such as Reynolds or Gainsborough ...
paintings (''
Portrait of a Large Dog
''Portrait of a Large Dog'' is an oil painting depicting a dingo ('' Canis lupus dingo'') by George Stubbs (August 25, 1724 - July 10, 1806). It is part of the collection of the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, London. The painting and '' ...
'' and ''
The Kongouro from New Holland
''The Kongouro from New Holland'' is an oil painting by George Stubbs. Depicting a kangaroo, it is the first painting of an Australian animal in Western Art, along with a painting of a dingo—'' Portrait of a Large Dog''—also by George Stubb ...
'') in the UK after a public appeal by
Sir David Attenborough
Sir David Frederick Attenborough (; born 8 May 1926) is an English broadcaster, biologist, natural historian and author. He is best known for writing and presenting, in conjunction with the BBC Natural History Unit, the nine natural histor ...
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'', 2 July 2013 The Foundation also made a donation of $5m to the Tel Aviv Museum of Art in 2019 to renovate the
Helena Rubinstein
Helena Rubinstein (born Chaja Rubinstein; December 25, 1870 – April 1, 1965) was a Polish and American businesswoman, art collector, and philanthropist. A cosmetics entrepreneur, she was the founder and eponym of Helena Rubinstein Incorporat ...
Pavilion for Contemporary Art.
Personal life
He is married to Marilyn Ofer, and they have four children. They reside in
Monte Carlo
Monte Carlo (; ; french: Monte-Carlo , or colloquially ''Monte-Carl'' ; lij, Munte Carlu ; ) is officially an administrative area of the Principality of Monaco, specifically the ward of Monte Carlo/Spélugues, where the Monte Carlo Casino is ...
, Monaco. In 2008, they resided in west London and had a home in
Herzliya Pituah
Herzliya Pituach ( he, הרצליה פיתוח) is an affluent beachfront neighbourhood in the western part of the city of Herzliya, Israel, in the Tel Aviv District. It has about 10,000 residents. Home to many wealthy Israelis, it is known for it ...
near
Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv-Yafo ( he, תֵּל־אָבִיב-יָפוֹ, translit=Tēl-ʾĀvīv-Yāfō ; ar, تَلّ أَبِيب – يَافَا, translit=Tall ʾAbīb-Yāfā, links=no), often referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the G ...
. He also owns an apartment at
15 Central Park West
15 Central Park West (also known as 15 CPW) is a luxury residential condominium along Central Park West, between 61st and 62nd Streets adjacent to Central Park, on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City. It was constructed from 2005 t ...
, a building he developed located on the
Upper West Side
The Upper West Side (UWS) is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It is bounded by Central Park on the east, the Hudson River on the west, West 59th Street to the south, and West 110th Street to the north. The Upper West ...
of Manhattan in New York City.
Ofer has built up a significant collection of contemporary and modern art, having also inherited half of his father's "vast collection".