Members of the new investors forum include the Ofer, Recanati and Dankner families, Jonathan Kolber, Shlomo Kalish and Yossi Vardi.
Consultancy firm Somekh Chaikin KMPG has set up a new investors forum in cooperation with Oracle Israel and the Herzog Fox Neeman law firm. Forum members will invest in high-tech start up companies.
Some of Israel's economic leaders have joined the forum in a private capacity. The list includes former Minister of Finance Yaakov Neeman, the Ofer family, the Recanati family, Koor chairman and controlling shareholder Jonathan Kolber, Jerusalem Global Bank founder Shlomo Kalish, diamond merchant and high-tech investor Benny Steinmetz, Yossi Vardi, Gad Somekh of Somekh Chaikin, Pele-Phone general manager Yigal Bar-Yossef, Bank Leumi general manager Galia Maor, Bank Leumi chairman Eitan Raff, Bank Hapoalim chairman Shlomo Nehama, the Dankner family, Discount Investment Corporation general manager Yoram Turbowicz, and others.
The forum will hold its first meeting in May at the Hilton Hotel, and will then hold meetings at regular intervals. The forum will not raise money from its members for a joint investment. Forum members will be presented with data on start-up companies, and will decide individually and on a case-by-case basis whether to make an investment. Israel already has several forums for private investors or "angels", but none boasts a membership list that includes such a large number of economic heavy weights.
Published by Israel's Business Arena on 6 April, 2000