Eyal Ofer (born 1950) is a Monaco-based Israeli real estate and shipping magnate, and a philanthropist. He is the chairman of Ofer Global, Zodiac Group and Global Holdings.
Early life
Eyal Ofer was born in 1950 in Haifa, Israel. His father, Sammy Ofer, was a Romanian-born Israeli shipping magnate and once Israel’s richest man. Eyal graduated from Atlantic College, an international boarding school affiliated with the United World Colleges, based in St Donat’s Castle, Wales. In his teenage years, he spent summers working on the family company’s ships, loading cargo, scraping the boats’ sides and repainting them, as well as traveling to international ports.
He served as an intelligence officer in the Israeli Air Force from 1967 to 1973. He then studied Law in London.
Career
Ofer’s business interests are concentrated in shipping, cruise lines and global real estate within the Ofer Global group, a Monaco-based private company focused on shipping, real estate, banking and investments in Europe, North America, the Near East and Asia.
According to Forbes, Ofer has a net worth of $9.5 billion, as of March 2016.
In 2014, he received an honorary lifetime membership of the Baltic Exchange in London in recognition of his contribution to shipping in the UK and global maritime trade. Other recipients of this award have included the Duke of Edinburgh, Winston Churchill, and Maersk Mc-Kinney.
In 2016, Lloyd’s List named him number 10 in the top 100 most influential people in the shipping industry.
He is a frequent speaker at industry events, including the Milken Institute Global Conference in 2012, 2013 and 2015. Ofer also regularly attends the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos.
- Eyal Ofer inherited part of his late father’s shipping empire in 2011 and has expanded the holdings significantly.
- Ofer owns Global Holdings, an international real estate firm, and the Zodiac Group, a shipping company.
- In addition to the 150 vessels he owns under Zodiac, Ofer also owns a 5% stake in Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines.
- Through Global Holdings he owns several properties in Manhattan, including 15 Central Park West, 1250 Broadway and 50 United Nations Plaza.
- Eyal and his brother Idan, also a billionaire, are sons of Sammy Ofer (d. 2011), who was once Israel’s richest man.
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