The Ofer Brothers Group ( he, קבוצת האחים עופר) was an Israeli family shipping business started by the billionaire Ofer family which is today known as XT Group.

History

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 ...

, KBE (22 February 1922 – 3 June 2011) born in

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, and ...

, and brother Yuli Ofer (1924 - 11 September 2011), established the Ofer Brothers shipping company in the 1950s. The Ofer Holdings Group dealt in property in Israel. The company branched out into aviation, high-tech, private equity, insurance, media and real estate. It became known as XT Group in November 2012 and is jointly owned by Idan Ofer and Udi Angel. Shares in

Israel Corporation Israel Corporation ( he, החברה לישראל) (also Israel Corp) is Israel's largest holding company. It was founded in 1968 by the Government of the State of Israel. 50% of its manufacturing activities and 70% of its consolidated revenues ...

, one of Israel's largest holding companies, were acquired by the Ofer family in 1999, with the then Ofer Holdings acquiring a stake as part of the extended group. The company's holdings include Zim,

Israel Chemicals ICL Group Ltd. (Hebrew: איי.סי. אל. גרופ בע"מ) (formerly Israel Chemicals Ltd., ICL) is a multi-national manufacturing concern that develops, produces and markets fertilizers, metals and other special-purpose chemical products. I ...

Oil Refineries Ltd BAZAN Group, (ORL or BAZAN, ), formerly Oil Refineries Ltd., is an oil refining and petrochemicals company located in Haifa Bay, Israel. It operates the largest oil refinery in the country. ORL has a total oil refining capacity of approximatel ...

(BAZAN) 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 ...

Tower Semiconductor Tower Semiconductor Ltd. is an Israeli company that manufactures integrated circuits using specialty process technologies, including SiGe, BiCMOS, Silicon Photonics, SOI, mixed-signal and RFCMOS, CMOS image sensors, non-imaging sensors, power m ...

and more. The Ofer family is one of 20 families that control 25% of Israel's exchange-listed companies. On May 24, 2011 the

US State Department The United States Department of State (DOS), or State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs of other nati ...

imposed sanctions on the company for violating the Iranian sanctions regime. According to the State Department, an Ofer subsidiary based in

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...

had sold a ship to Iran in 2010. Former Mossad direction

Meir Dagan Aluf (Major General) Meir Dagan ( he, מאיר דגן; 30 January 1945 – 17 March 2016) was an Israel Defense Forces Major General (reserve) and Director of the Mossad. Personal life and education Meir Huberman (later Dagan) was born on a ...

has said that he does not believe any laws were broken by the company's business dealings in Iran, which according to company statements involved the transport of oil and

petroleum Petroleum, also known as crude oil, or simply oil, is a naturally occurring yellowish-black liquid mixture of mainly hydrocarbons, and is found in geological formations. The name ''petroleum'' covers both naturally occurring unprocessed crud ...

products in a manner permitted under the sanctions regime. Prime Minister

Benjamin Netanyahu Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu (; ; born 21 October 1949) is an Israeli politician who served as the ninth prime minister of Israel from 1996 to 1999 and again from 2009 to 2021. He is currently serving as Leader of the Opposition and Chairman of ...

s office denied allegations that the company's dealings in Iran had been authorized by the State of Israel. After Sammy Ofer's death in 2011, Netanyahu made a public statement commending Ofer as a "true

Zionist Zionism ( he, צִיּוֹנוּת ''Tsiyyonut'' after '' Zion'') is a nationalist movement that espouses the establishment of, and support for a homeland for the Jewish people centered in the area roughly corresponding to what is known in Je ...

". On 3 June 2011, Sammy Ofer died at his

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 ...

home at the age of 89. On 11 September 2011, Yuli Ofer died at his

Herzliya Herzliya ( ; he, הֶרְצְלִיָּה ; ar, هرتسليا, Hirtsiliyā) is an affluent city in the central coast of Israel, at the northern part of the Tel Aviv District, known for its robust start-up and entrepreneurial culture. In it h ...

home at the age of 87. After Sammy's death, the company was divided between his sons; Eyal received the company's hotel and cruise operations and his younger brother Idan received

, a 9.7% stake in Mizrahi Tefahot Bank, and XT Shipping (part of XT Group, formerly Ofer Holdings). The current chairman and joint owner of XT group is Udi Angel.

References

{{Reflist

External links

Ofer Brothers

XT Holdings
Ofer family Israeli businesspeople Shipping companies of Israel Israeli people of Romanian-Jewish descent

History

See also

References

External links