Gadish Global is setting up a subsidiary to manage pension portfolios on behalf of institutional investors. The company intends to offer investors long-term savings management services as part of its strategy of specializing in long-term investments. The new company will conduct its portfolio management business through Bank Hapoalim (LSE: BKHD; TASE: POLI), and following the closure of the purchase of the Gadish provident fund from the bank, the subsidiary's activity will be consolidated with that of fund management company Gmulot Ltd.
Many institutional investors, such as industry-specific provident funds, usually outsource the management of part of their investment portfolios to outside managers, and Gadish Global intends to bid for the management of assets like these.
Meanwhile, employees at Bank Hapoalim itself are following savers out of Gadish, even before ownership of it has changed hands. The bank's workers committee has set up a special advisory team, including external consultants, which will invite offers from different provident funds, in order to maximize the benefit for employees. Gadish, the largest provident fund in Israel, with NIS 21.3 billion in assets, was recently sold to a consortium of investors headed by Ron Weissberg and US investment house Plainfield Asset Management LLC. The deal is still subject to regulatory approval, and the change in ownership is expected to go through towards the end of the year.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes.co.il - on September 3, 2007
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