Eyal Ofer

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.

Property

Ofer first moved to New York City in 1980 to start the family real estate business, and invested in properties on Park Avenue South, which he rented to law firms and public relations firms through his real estate company, Global Holdings. Over the years, he assembled a real estate empire having acquired a deep knowledge of ships which had made him comfortable with managing similarly tangible assets.

Ofer is the chairman of Global Holdings, a private real estate holding company specializing in large-scale commercial real estate and high-end residential developments. Its holdings include prime commercial properties in Manhattan, and a controlling stake in Miller Global Properties, a large real estate investment fund focusing on key markets in North America and Europe. He serves as Miller Global's co-chairman. Global Holdings' commercial projects include, among others, and 120 Park Avenue – the former headquarters of the Altria Group.

Its residential projects include 15 Central Park West, which was described as “the most powerful apartment building in the world” and “the most lucrative”, with quoted apartment sales of approximately $2 billion. It was the subject of a book published in March 2014 by Michael Gross entitled "House of Outrageous Fortune: Fifteen Central Park West, the World’s Most Powerful Address".

They also include the development at The Greenwich Lane (in partnership with the Rudin family - formerly the site of Saint Vincent's Catholic Medical Center), together with the redevelopment of 18 Gramercy Park South, 520 Park Avenue and 50 United Nations Plaza (all in partnership with Zeckendorf Development). 18 Gramercy Park South (ranked the most expensive Manhattan development 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 architects Foster and Partners. Today, Ofer’s portfolio includes more than 50 properties in four countries.

Shipping

Ofer started his career in international maritime transportation in all the major shipping segments in the 1980s.

He is the chairman of Zodiac Group, a privately held Monaco-based shipping company with a fleet of more than 150 vessels. It is the largest operator of vessels under the Red Ensign by tonnage. He is the principal of OMNI Offshore Terminals, the largest provider of floating production storage and offloading (FSO & FPSO) assets to the offshore oil and gas industry. Founded 26 years ago, the Singapore–headquartered company has delivered 23 conversion projects, 2 FPSO and 21 FSO. Ofer has been a director of Royal Caribbean Cruises, the second largest cruise company in the world, since May 1995 and holds a significant stake in the company.

In 2016, Ofer was ranked 10th in the Lloyd’s List Top 100 Most Influential People in the Shipping Industry. According to Lloyd’s List, “the consensus 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 control the 20th biggest fleet in the world.

Art

Ofer has built up a significant collection of contemporary and modern art, having also inherited half of his father's "vast collection".

In December 2013, Ofer donated £1.5m to the National Maritime Museum to allow it to keep 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 David Attenborough.

In 2013, Ofer also gave a major gift of £10 million to support the completion of the development of Tate Modern, a museum of modern art based in London. As a result, the exhibition gallery on the third floor bears his name. The space has housed many significant exhibitions, including Matisse, Picasso, Edward Hopper and Gauguin.

In 2018, the “Eyal Ofer Galleries” are set to hold Tate Modern’s first ever solo exhibition of Pablo Picasso’s work, “Picasso 1932 – Love, Fame, Tragedy”, which will display the artist’s masterpiece “La Reve” (sold for a record £102 million) along with more than 100 “outstanding” paintings, sculptures and drawings. The exhibition is described by the Tate as one of the most significant in its history.

Philanthropy

Ofer is a supporter of artistic, educational and cultural institutions – including the Tate Modern and the National Maritime Museum in the UK – through the Eyal & Marilyn Ofer Family Foundation, which continues his family's philanthropic tradition.

Ofer is chairman of the Foundation.

Eyal was one of the donors to the Gloriana during the Diamond Jubilee of Elizabeth II in 2012.

Through his family Foundation, in 2013, he donated £10 million to Tate Modern, and £1.5m to the National Maritime Museum.

Personal life

He is married to Marilyn Ofer, and they have four children. They reside in Monte Carlo, Monaco. In 2008, they resided in west London and had a home in Herzliya Pituah near Tel Aviv. He also owns an apartment at 15 Central Park West, a building he developed located on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City.