In our article titled “Eyal Ofer 101: Who is the Successful Billionaire?” on Zatrun.com, we will delve into everything you need to know about the successful billionaire that our readers are curious about, Eyal Ofer, in detail.
Who is Eyal Ofer?
Eyal Ofer is a billionaire real estate and shipping operator, as well as a philanthropist, born in the city of Haifa, Israel in 1950. He is the chairman of Ofer Global, Zodiac Group and Global Holdings. Eyal Ofer’s father, Sammy Ofer, was a Romanian-born Israeli shipping operator and was once the richest man in Israel. Eyal graduated from Atlantic College, an international boarding school affiliated with the United World Colleges, located in St Donat’s Castle, Wales. During his youth, he worked summers on one of his family’s ships, loading cargo, scraping and painting the sides of ships, as well as traveling to international ports.
From 1967 to 1973, he served as an intelligence officer in the Israeli Air Force. He later studied Maritime Law at the University of London. Eyal Ofer is married to Marilyn Ofer and they have four children. The couple resides in the Monte Carlo region of Monaco. In 2008, while living in West London, they also owned a house in Herzliya Pituah near Tel Aviv. Additionally, he owns an apartment in a building called 15 Central Park West located in New York City’s Upper West Side, which he developed. Ofer has also created a significant collection of contemporary and modern art, inheriting half of his father’s vast collection as a legacy.
Career Life:
Eyal Ofer’s business activities are focused on investments in shipping, real estate, oil and gas, and banking in Europe, North America, the Middle East, and Asia within the Ofer Global group, a private company headquartered in Monaco. In 2014, he received an honorary lifetime membership from the Baltic Exchange in London for his contributions to the shipping industry and global maritime trade. Other recipients of this award include the Duke of Edinburgh, Winston Churchill, and Maersk Mc-Kinney. Ofer has been ranked seventh and tenth among the top 100 most influential people in the shipping industry by Lloyd’s List in 2014, 2016, and 2021.
Eyal Ofer frequently speaks at industry events, including the Milken Institute Global Conference in 2012, 2013, and 2015. He also regularly attends the annual meetings of the World Economic Forum in Davos. In 2018, Ofer joined the advisory board of the Bloomberg New Economy Forum, which includes leaders in business, government, education, and philanthropy such as David Rubenstein, Gary Cohn, and Mukesh Ambani. In March 2021, Forbes estimated Ofer’s net worth to be $11.1 billion. Bloomberg reported his net worth as $16.7 billion in January 2022.
Real Estate:
In 1980, Eyal Ofer moved to New York to start his family’s real estate business and invested in properties on Park Avenue South through his real estate company, Global Holdings. Over time, he built a real estate empire where he felt comfortable managing tangible assets, having acquired deep knowledge in ships. Ofer is the chairman of Global Holdings, a private real estate holding company that specializes in large-scale commercial real estate and luxury residential projects.
His portfolio includes pioneering commercial real estate in Manhattan and a controlling stake in Miller Global Properties, a large real estate investment fund focused on the primary markets in North America and Europe. Ofer also serves as co-chairman of Miller Global. One of the luxury residential projects is 15 Central Park West, which has been described as “the world’s most powerful apartment building” and “the most profitable,” with approximately $2 billion in apartment sales quoted. It was the subject of the book, House of Outrageous Fortune: Fifteen Central Park West, the World’s Most Powerful Address, by Michael Gross, published in March 2014.
Other luxury residential projects include The Greenwich Lane, a partnership with the Rudin family, and 18 Gramercy Park South, 520 Park Avenue, and 50 United Nations Plaza, all of which were made in partnership with Zeckendorf Development. 18 Gramercy Park South (ranked as the most expensive Manhattan project in 2013) and 15 Central Park West were designed by architect Robert A. M. Stern. 50 UN Plaza is a 44-story tower designed by London-based Foster and Partners. Today, Ofer’s portfolio includes more than 50 properties in four countries.
Shipping:
Eyal Ofer began his international maritime transportation career in the 1980s in all major shipping segments. He is the chairman of Zodiac Group, a Monaco-based shipowner and leasing (i.e. chartering) company, and has a fleet of over 150 ships. He is the largest operator of ship management under the Red Ensign in terms of tonnage. Ofer is also a board member of Royal Caribbean Cruises, the world’s second-largest cruise line, and has held a significant stake since May 1995.
In 2016, he ranked 10th on Lloyd’s List’s Most Influential 100 People in the Shipping Industry. According to Lloyd’s List, “the common view from those who know Eyal Ofer best is that he is a man who understands the markets with forensic detail.” Ofer is said to own the world’s 20th largest fleet. In 2021, a commercial tanker managed by Zodiac Maritime was attacked by an unmanned aerial vehicle produced in Iran, resulting in the loss of two lives.
Energy and Technology:
O.G. Oil & Gas, owned by Ofer Global’s Energy division, holds exploration and production interests in the Australasia and Southeast Asia regions. In 2017, O.G. Oil & Gas made a partial offer for a majority stake in New Zealand Oil and Gas, acquiring almost 70% of the company. In October 2018, O.G. Energy agreed to purchase a 40% stake in Beach Energy’s Otway Basin assets on the southeast coast of Australia.
Eyal Ofer is also the chairman of OMNI Offshore Terminals, the largest provider of floating production storage and offloading (FSO) and floating production, storage, and offloading (FPSO) assets to the offshore oil and gas industry. The Singapore-based company was founded in 1990 and has delivered 23 conversion projects, 2 FPSOs, and 21 FSOs. Through O.G. Tech, Ofer Global’s technology investment arm, Eyal Ofer is interested in technology companies. O.G. Tech is a venture capital fund launched in 2017 that focuses on early-stage start-ups with innovative technologies.
In January 2018, the fund participated in the Series B financing round for Bringg, a delivery logistics platform for businesses. This follows the fund’s participation in a financing round for Arbe Robotics, a Tel Aviv-based start-up that develops a high-resolution radar system, in November 2017. Ofer Global has also invested in enSilo and Secdo, which provide cybersecurity and data protection services, and ClipCall, which brings technology to home care and improvement.
Philanthropy:
Eyal Ofer continues his family’s tradition of philanthropy through the Eyal & Marilyn Ofer Family Foundation, which supports artistic, educational, and cultural institutions, including the Tate Modern and National Maritime Museum in the UK and the Tel Aviv Museum of Art. Eyal Ofer serves as the foundation’s chairman. In 2012, Eyal was one of the donors who made a contribution to the Gloriana during the Diamond Jubilee of Elizabeth II. Through the foundation, his family donated £10 million in 2013 for the expansion of the Tate Modern museum, hence a gallery on the third floor of the museum bears his name.
Additionally, he made a £1.5 million donation to the National Maritime Museum to allow them to retain two 18th-century George Stubbs paintings (Portrait of a Large Dog and The Kongouro from New Holland) in the UK after a public appeal by Sir David Attenborough. In 2019, the foundation contributed $5 million to renovate the Helena Rubinstein Pavilion at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art for contemporary art.
