Shamrock Holdings, the Disney family's investment arm, is planning a $250m. investment fund that targets Israel, exclusively.
The fund will be completed within a year and after Shamrock completes investing the monies in its present fund.
Shamrock began investing in Israel in the mid-1980s and since then has invested about half a billion dollars into Israeli companies.
The fund will operate as a private equity investor, mostly in exporting industrial firms. A number of Shamrock's holdings, such as Koor and Tadiran Communications, were closed out with substantial profits.
Two and a half years ago Shamrock established another fund for continued investments in Israel, with $125 million. It has already invested half of this sum in Teva Naot, Kaman Trade, Orad and other companies.
Stanley Gold, President of Shamrock and the person responsible for its investments, refused to comment on the size of the new fund, saying only that the Disney family would continue to invest in Israel.
"The family is very pleased with its investment portfolio in Israel and believes in the Israeli economy. We have been here for over 20 years, and in that time you make friends, partners and money. You would have to be crazy not to continue," Gold said.
According to Gold, the fund's profits measured by the internal rate of return (IRR) reached 31% on its investments this year.
Shamrock held an investor's meeting in Israel last week, attended by many senior executives and investors from Israel and abroad - though it refused to publish the names of most of those attending.
