Ran Maidan, formerly CEO and president of irrigation solutions company Netafim, has joined global private equity firm Permira as Senior Adviser, Head of Israel. In announcing the appointment, Permira said that, in addition to his work in Israel, Maidan will use his expertise and experience to support Permira’s global investment teams, particularly in the technology sector.
Before joining Netafim, Maidan was located in Singapore and served as CEO of Asia-Pacific, Africa & Middle East at crop protection solutions company Makhteshim Agan Industries (now Adama Agricultural Solutions). Before that, he was CFO of the Makhteshim Agan group.
Permira is a global private equity platform that has been investing for over three decades in control buyouts and large-scale, non-control minorities. The Permira funds have completed several successful transactions in Israel, including the 2011 acquisition of Netafim, which was sold in 2018 to Orbia at a company valuation of approximately $1.9 billion. In 2009, the Permira funds acquired NDS, a pay-TV software company. NDS was sold to Cisco in 2012 for approximately $5 billion, before being reacquired by the Permira funds in 2018 and rebranded to Synamedia.
"During my tenure at Netafim I worked very closely with Permira, as both partners and shareholders, and witnessed first-hand their significant contribution to Netafim’s success," Maidan said. "It is a great honour for me to work with Permira and I look forward to helping source and develop interesting proprietary investment opportunities across Israel, particularly in the technology sector."
Jorg Rockenhauser, a partner and member of the investment committee at Permira, said, "We are always looking for fast-growing companies which we can help become global leaders and we are excited to expand our scope in Israel. The local market is very dynamic, particularly in the technology and innovation sectors, which is a perfect fit with our investment strategy. Ran’s reputation and experience will be of great value to Permira as we develop our presence in Israel and we are looking forward to working with him again."
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on October 20, 2020
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