Former Psagot Investment House Ltd. CEO Roy Vermus is returning to the capital market. He will establish a hedge fund with Psagot Provident Funds and Pension CEO Shlomi Bracha, who will leave the investment house.
Vermus has been out of the capital market since 2010, following the nostro scandal at Psagot, which resulted in his ouster from the investment house. The case against him was closed a few months ago without an indictment.
Vermus and Bracha's hedge fund will focus on investing in bonds of companies undergoing debt settlements, a subject on which they are experts.
Bracha will apparently be succeeded as CEO of Psagot Provident Funds by Arik Yogev, who will manage all of Psagot's long-term savings business. Bracha decided to leave Psagot, Israel's largest investment house with more than NIS 170 billion in assets under management and headed by CEO Hagai Badash, after seven years, in order to found the hedge fund. The changes will come into effect in three months.
Bracha is an experienced and highly esteemed manager at Psagot and in the industry in general. A year ago, he succeeded Badash as CEO of Psagot Provident Funds, which has NIS 60 billion in assets under management, making it Israel's largest provident funds management company. He previously served as VP of Psagot Provident Funds.
Bracha is the third Psagot executive to announce his departure in the past month. Two weeks ago, EVP Arik Perez, who handled the investment house's pension operations and managed its headquarters staff, announced his departure. Hila Medina, who has served for the past few years as VP projects at Psagot (and was previously Vermus's personal assistant) is due to leave to become Ministry of Finance director general Yael Andoran's chief of staff.
Psagot recently acquired the life insurance business of Shirbit Insurance Company Ltd., becoming the first investment house to enter the insurance business. Yogev will manage Psagot's insurance activity, after recently leaving his post as deputy CEO at Migdal Insurance and Financial Holdings Ltd. (TASE: MGDL). He will take up his new post in a month.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on September 3, 2013
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