Menora Insurance Acquires Stake in Agility Hedge Fund Valued at 300 Million Shekels
Three years after founding the hedge fund Agility following his departure as CEO of Harel Finance, Tal Kedem is preparing for an exit. Kedem and his partner Udi Biton plan to sell a 25% to 30% stake in Agility to Menora Insurance at a valuation of approximately 300 million shekels, implying a payment between 75 and 100 million shekels. Menora, controlled by Eran Grifel and managed by Ari Kalman, had pursued Agility for some time but only recently agreed on valuation terms. The timing coincides with a wave of acquisitions by institutional investors and insurance companies seeking to expand growth engines beyond mutual funds, which offer limited returns, by diversifying into hedge funds that charge higher management and performance fees.
Menora aims to significantly expand its presence in the hedge fund market, which is divided between dozens of small funds managing hundreds of millions of shekels and six large funds managing over a billion shekels each. Agility, managing about 2 billion shekels, ranks among the top hedge funds alongside Nokad, Hatzavim, Spera, AON, and Alpha. The deal also includes a mechanism allowing Menora to increase its stake in the future. Kedem and Biton, both former executives at Psagot Investments, have strong industry ties, including with Roy Vermus, founder of Nokad.
Agility's notable funds include Agility Strategy (long-short Israeli market), Agility 125 (aiming to outperform the Israeli index), Agility Bond (corporate bonds), and Agility Universe (global equities and bonds). In January, Agility led a $10 million investment with Israeli institutional investors in the London-listed energy company ECO and maintains a strategic partnership with Navitas, led by Gidon Tadmor. The hedge fund sector manages around 100 billion shekels in Israel, with institutional investors increasingly acquiring stakes in small and medium funds to diversify their portfolios. Hedge funds in mutual fund structures, regulated and supervised by the Israel Securities Authority, have opened hedge fund investments to a broader public, managing about 5 billion shekels to date.
