Lenny Recanati is returning to the capital market, six years after he sold his holdings in the family concern IDB Holding Corp. Ltd. (TASE:IDBH), which held, among other things, Ilanot Batucha. Recanati will form a trust management company called “Recanati Trust Funds.”
Recanati is entering the company as a partner in Inbar (el go) Financial Consulting and Management Ltd., which manages asset portfolios totaling NIS 600 million. Its customers include Poalim Mutual Funds Ltd. (PKN), on behalf of which Inbar is managing two trust funds, “Alternative Energy” and the “Homeland Security Trust.” The new trust fund management company will be, in effect, an Inbar subsidiary, in which Recanati is expected to invest an estimated NIS 10 million.
Inbar’s owners are Shimon Alkabtez and Dan Gonen, whom Recanati knows from their days as owners of Ilanot Batucha. Alkabetz was formerly Ilanot Discount. CEO and Ilanot Batucha CEO, and also held senior positions with Swiss banks, Union Bancaire Privee, and Discount Bank & amp Trust Co., which was previously controlled by the Recanati family. Gonen also served as Ilanot Batucha CEO and managed Batucha regional offices in Haifa and the northern region. The three partners will hold equal shares in the new company.
Lenny Recanati said, “The Bachar report and the separation of trust funds from the banks have created the opportunity for genuine competition in the Israeli capital market. We have formed a professional, forward looking group, and I believe in its ability to grow and take a leading position in the market.”
Lenny Recanati (51), is a scion of the Recanati family which founded Israel Discount Bank (TASE: DSCT) and held it until 1983 when the leading banks were nationalized by the state in the aftermath of the bank share pegging scandal. The family controlled IDB, which held Ilanot Batucha, which later became Clal Finance Underwriting. In 2000, Lenny Recanati and his cousin Udi Recanati sold their share in IDB to the controlling shareholder group headed by their cousin Leon Recanati. This group then sold its controlling interest to the Ganden Group, headed by Nochi Dankner.
After he sold his holdings in IDB, Lenny Recanati took a break from most of his business activities. In April 2003, he founded his own holding company, through which he made various investments. These include Lipman Electronics Engineering (Nasdaq: LPMA; TASE: LPMA), which he recently sold. Recanati also has holdings in Plastro Irrigation Systems (TASE: PLSTR) and Recanati Winery, which made the headlines due to the power struggle between its partners.
Recanati also has holdings in high-tech companies, among them Mate Technologies and Mobileye, as well as real estate holdings primarily in the Netherlands, and a share in UK company Excalibur, which subcontracts for franchisee companies serving US military forces in Iraq.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes.co.il - on May 17, 2006
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