Sources inform ''Globes'' that Sky Fund, run by managing partners Zvi Yochman and Nir Dagan, has raised $130 million for its Sky II Fund. The private equity fund now manages $250 million in its two funds.
About two-thirds of the amount raised came from Israeli institutional investors, including all five large insurance companies, Psagot Investment House Ltd., and Amitim, which manages the eight nationalized old pension funds. The rest of the money was raised from foreign investors, including charities and funds of funds.
Sky Fund declined to comment on the report.
Capital market sources believe that this is the first large fundraising by an Israeli private equity fund in the past two years. Raising the capital was no easy matter; capital market sources say that institutional investors are in no hurry to invest in investment funds. Institutional investors lost their appetite for private equity funds following their heavy losses in the global financial crisis, because of the funds' generally low liquidity and transparency. Institutional investors have also been disappointed by past returns, especially venture capital funds.
"Globes" obtained a copy of Sky Fund's presentation of its second fund for institutional investors. Sky Fund says that the second fund will be for ten years, similar to its first fund, and that it will focus on mature Israeli companies (i.e. no start-ups) in various industries.
The Sky II Fund will charge a 2% management fee, and will receive 20% of the upside from its investments. The fund will reportedly invest in 7-10 companies, with at least two investments planned for this year.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on March 14, 2011
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