Ofer Family
Israel's leading shipping-to-global-capital dynasty, founded by Sammy Ofer and split after his 2011 death into the Eyal Ofer branch (Zodiac Maritime, Global Holdings, Mizrahi Tefahot Bank, Royal Caribbean) and the Idan Ofer branch (ICL Group, Kenon Holdings, Atlético Madrid). Forbes' 2025 World's Billionaires List valued Eyal at $28.2 billion and Idan at $22.5 billion.
The Ofer family is an Israeli shipping and real estate dynasty whose two main branches were worth a combined $50.7 billion on Forbes' 2025 World's Billionaires List: Eyal Ofer at $28.2 billion (68th globally) and Idan Ofer at $22.5 billion (89th globally). A third branch, cousin Liora Ofer, chairperson of Melisron and Ofer Investments, was valued separately at $2.1 billion the same year.
Who Founded the Ofer Family Fortune?
Sammy Ofer, born Shmuel Herskovich in Romania in 1922, moved with his family to Mandatory Palestine two years later and built an international shipping fleet that grew into one of the largest privately held fleets in the world, according to Globes. He died in Tel Aviv in June 2011 at age 89, leaving his shipping, real estate, energy and chemicals holdings to his two sons, Eyal and Idan.
How Did the Family Split After Sammy Ofer's Death?
Idan Ofer inherited half his father's fortune and art collection in 2011, Forbes reported, and by 2013 was ranked Israel's richest person. His brother Eyal Ofer took the maritime and international real estate businesses, relocating the holding structure to Monaco and becoming chairman of Ofer Global, Zodiac Group and Global Holdings.
What Does the Idan Ofer Branch Control?
Idan Ofer is the principal shareholder of Quantum Pacific Group, the holding company through which he controls Israel Corporation and roughly 46% of ICL Group, the Dead Sea-based fertilizer and specialty minerals producer. His holdings also include Kenon Holdings, the Eastern Pacific Shipping fleet, Pacific Drilling, and the football clubs Atlético Madrid and Famalicão.
What Does the Eyal Ofer Branch Control?
Eyal Ofer chairs Zodiac Maritime, one of the largest privately owned shipping fleets in the world, and Global Holdings, a Manhattan real estate portfolio that includes the office tower at 50 United Nations Plaza. Ofer is also Bank Mizrahi Tefahot's controlling shareholder through his L.Y.N. Holdings vehicle, holding a 22.5% stake as of his most recent disclosed purchase, jointly with the Wertheim family, with whom he shares board control, Globes reported. He also holds roughly 5% of Royal Caribbean Group and a board seat there, per Forbes Israel's 2023 reporting. Based in Monaco since relocating his business operations there, Ofer also chairs the Eyal and Marilyn Ofer Family Foundation.
What Is the Ofer Family's Philanthropic Record?
Sammy Ofer donated $25 million to Haifa's Rambam Health Care Campus in 2007, funding the Sammy Ofer Fortified Underground Emergency Hospital, a 2,000-bed underground facility that opened in its peacetime configuration in 2014. In 2007 he also gave £20 million to London's National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, funding the Sammy Ofer Wing.
After his death, his sons continued the pattern. Idan Ofer donated £25 million to London Business School in 2013, the largest gift in the school's history at the time, naming the renovated Marylebone Town Hall campus the Sammy Ofer Centre in his father's memory. He also funded the Sammy Ofer Fellowship at Harvard's Kennedy School for emerging Israeli and Palestinian leaders. Eyal Ofer gave £10 million to London's Tate Modern and a further £1.5 million that let the National Maritime Museum acquire two 1772 paintings by George Stubbs, according to Wikipedia's sourced history of the museum's acquisitions.
Why Does the Ofer Family Matter to Israel's Economy?
The Ofer architecture is the clearest example of an Israeli-origin fortune operating as true global capital: two branches, five or more countries of operation, and holdings spanning shipping, chemicals, banking, real estate and sports. Unlike family businesses that stay concentrated in Israeli markets, both Ofer branches now generate most of their asset value outside Israel, while Eyal Ofer's control of Mizrahi Tefahot Bank and Idan Ofer's control of ICL Group keep the family inside Israel's concentration-group debate.
Related Olam Coverage
- Idan Ofer: The Quantum Pacific Branch of the Ofer Estate
- Inside the Idan Ofer Architecture
- Melisron (TASE: MLSR): The Ofer Family's Mall Empire
- Israeli Family Offices: The Ofer, Wertheimer & Azrieli Capital Map
See also: Israel Corporation · Mizrahi Tefahot Bank · Concentration Group / Oligopoly · Cross-Border Holding Structure · Federmann Family · Mirilashvili Family