The first nine months of 2019 have been a good period for Israel's leading investment houses. Thanks to a rising stock market, with equities and bond indices up substantially, alongside an inflow of money to the mutual funds, the total of assets under management of the eleven public and "semi-public" investment houses, plus privately-held investment houses Altshuler Shaham and Psagot, has soared to an aggregate NIS 803 billion. The figure emerges from analysis of the financials of the investment houses and insurance companies, and from additional data that have reached "Globes".
At the of 2018, assets under management totaled NIS 713 billion. Meaning that in the first three quarters of 2019 the investment houses have seen a 13% expansion in the long-term basis of their revenues and profits. The rise in assets under management is true of all these investment houses.
To a large extent, 2019 is shaping up to be Altshuler Shaham's year. "Globes" has learned that the firm posted huge profit of NIS 213 million for the January-September period. Altshuler Shaham has become the number two investment house in Israel, displacing Meitav Dash, and second only to Psagot, which is still number one by a long way, largely thanks to its management of assets of other institutions, amounting to an estimated NIS 60 billion.
At the end of September 2019, Psagot had assets under management totaling over NIS 190 billion, while Altshuler Shaham's total was NIS 140 billion, after the largest percentage in the industry in the period - 27%.
Meitav Dash's assets under management total was NIS 135 billion. Over the years, it has mainly grown through acquisitions and mergers. Next is a another successful investment house, founded in the previous decade and growing organically since then, namely Yelin Lapidot, which now manages NIS 89 billion.
In fifth position is Harel Finance, owned by Harel Insurance Investments and Financial Services Ltd. (TASE: HARL). At the end of September 2019, it had assets under management totaling NIS 56 billion, following strong growth since the beginning of the year, particularly from inflows into its mutual funds.
Altshuler Shaham's profit for the first nine months of this year includes a one-time gain from the very successful flotation of its provident funds and pensions management company. This gain represents most of the improvement in the firm's results, but the improvement was posted thanks to the success of its regular activity as well.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on December 8, 2019
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