Who Is Poju Zabludowicz? The Soltam Heir Who Built Tamares Into a $3B Global Platform

The Builders  |  Olam.business

Chaim "Poju" Zabludowicz (born 1953, Helsinki) is the Finnish-British-Israeli billionaire who inherited and rebuilt the Tamares Group — the family holding company founded by his father Shlomo Zabludowicz, a Polish-Jewish Auschwitz survivor who built the original Israeli arms manufacturer Soltam. Today Tamares is a $3 billion private investment platform with substantial Las Vegas real estate, an Israeli undersea telecommunications cable, and equity stakes across global technology, finance, and media. Sunday Times Rich List 2021 ranked Poju and his wife Anita Zabludowicz 111th in the United Kingdom with personal net worth of £1.5 billion.

Zabludowicz is also the founder and primary funder of BICOM (Britain Israel Communications and Research Centre), the most influential pro-Israel advocacy organization operating in the United Kingdom. Together with his wife Anita he runs the Zabludowicz Collection — one of the most significant private contemporary art collections in Europe at 500 artists and 5,000 works.

Snapshot

The Business Story

Shlomo Zabludowicz, Poju's father, was born in Łódź, Poland in 1914 — son of a rabbi. He and his wife Pola were interned at Auschwitz; only the two of them survived their immediate family. After the war, Shlomo immigrated to Finland via Sweden. In Finland he had two children: Poju (born Helsinki, 1953) and Rebecka (later Belldegrun). The family settled in Tampere, where Shlomo built the original family fortune as the Israeli sales agent for Finnish weapons manufacturer Tampella, eventually establishing Soltam Systems as a joint venture between Tampella and Israel's Solel Boneh. Soltam — based in Yokneam, Israel — became one of Israel's foundational arms manufacturers, specializing in mortars, light weapons, and ammunition. Shlomo immigrated to Israel in 1975.

Poju was raised in Tampere and attended Svenska Samskolan i Tammerfors, the Swedish-language school in the city. He earned an honors degree in Economics and Political Science from Tel Aviv University and worked at BFG Bank AG in Frankfurt before joining the family holding company, Tamares, as a director in 1978.

In 1990, Poju took over as head of Tamares. The early 1990s pivot was the strategic move that built the modern fortune. Soltam was sold to Koor Industries. Poju repositioned Tamares away from defense and into a diversified investment platform spanning real estate, technology, financial services, and media. In 1993 he established Ivory Gate, a London property investment vehicle that, using offshore structures, built out a substantial UK commercial-real-estate portfolio. Tamares then acquired major US assets including 1500 Broadway in New York City (1995) and the 165,000 sq ft Plaza America retail center in Washington DC (1995).

The defining real-estate transaction was 2004: Tamares acquired 40 acres in downtown Las Vegas in a joint acquisition with Barrick Gaming Corporation from Jackie Gaughan for $82 million. In June 2005, Tamares acquired total control of the Las Vegas casino assets — including the Nevada Club Hotel & Casino, the Queen of Hearts Hotel & Casino, and 40 additional commercial and residential sites in the Fremont Street area. Tamares now owns 40% of the land in downtown Las Vegas. The Las Vegas position has been a multi-decade hold.

Other major moves: In 2008 Poju consolidated his Israeli real-estate holdings into the British Israel Group and sold it to Melisron in 2012. In 2010 he founded Tamares Telecom, which laid the submarine communications cable connecting Haifa, Israel to Cyprus and Marseille, France — the second major undersea cable serving Israel, sitting alongside the older Med-Nautilus link. In March 2011, Tamares put forward an approximately $3 billion bid for the whole of Warner Music Group.

Today the Tamares Group portfolio includes equity stakes in companies including Addepar (wealth management software), Pontifax (Israeli life sciences venture capital, $350 million AUM), AImotive (autonomous-driving software), and Siklu (gigabit wireless backhaul). The Tamares real-estate division operates 2.3 million sq ft of office space globally. The family entity is registered in Liechtenstein.

Why Zabludowicz Matters in Israel

Multiple layers of Israeli significance.

First, the Soltam legacy. Poju's father built Soltam into one of Israel's foundational arms manufacturers — an industrial asset that subsequently passed into Koor Industries and continues to operate within Israel's defense-industrial base. Soltam is part of the modern Elbit Systems supply chain.

Second, the Tamares Telecom undersea cable. The Tamares Telecom Israel-Cyprus-Marseille submarine cable is one of only two physical fiber-optic links Israel maintains to Europe. Without it, Israel's internet connectivity to Europe would run through a single redundancy point. The strategic infrastructure significance is substantial and almost never publicly discussed.

Third, Pontifax. The Tamares Group is a backer of Pontifax, the leading Israeli life-sciences venture capital firm with $350 million in assets under management and a portfolio of Israeli-founded biotech and pharma companies that runs deep into the country's emerging drug-discovery pipeline.

Fourth, the institutional philanthropic footprint. The Zabludowicz Center for Autoimmune Diseases at Sheba Medical Center centralizes Israeli clinical and research capability across rheumatology, clinical immunology, neurology, obstetrics, and adjacent disciplines under a single research roof. Major sustained giving across Israeli cultural, scientific, and medical institutions.

Fifth, the BICOM platform. BICOM — founded by Poju in 2001 — is the most consequential UK-based pro-Israel advocacy and lobbying organization. Poju has personally funded BICOM at over £2 million across multi-year periods, with the platform serving as a central node in UK-Israel diplomatic, political, and media relations across the Conservative and Labour government cycles.

Sixth, Global Conversations. Poju and Anita host structured peace negotiations between Israeli and Palestinian representatives across their homes in London, Caesarea, and Sarvisalo. The work is mostly off-the-record. Both are public supporters of a two-state solution.

Zabludowicz's Key Holdings

• Tamares Group — Chairman; $3 billion portfolio; Liechtenstein-registered
• Las Vegas real estate — 40% of downtown Las Vegas land; original 40-acre acquisition 2004 with Barrick Gaming
• Tamares Telecom — Israel-Cyprus-France undersea fiber cable; one of two physical fiber links serving Israel to Europe
• 1500 Broadway, New York City — acquired 1995
• Plaza America, Washington DC — 165,000 sq ft retail center
• Pontifax — Israeli life-sciences VC, $350M AUM (Tamares portfolio company)
• Tappara — Finnish ice hockey team; owner
• Zabludowicz Collection — 500-artist, 5,000-work private contemporary art collection
• BICOM — founder and primary funder
• Past holdings exited: Soltam (sold to Koor Industries early 1990s); British Israel Group (sold to Melisron 2012); Outotec (sold March 2018)

Zabludowicz's Legacy and Influence

Three legacies, distinct.

The first is the post-defense pivot itself. Shlomo Zabludowicz built the family fortune in arms. Poju sold the defense business in the 1990s and repositioned across real estate, technology, and financial services. The pivot succeeded structurally. By 2025–2026, Tamares is a diversified holding platform with no defense exposure and a $3 billion portfolio.

The second is the Las Vegas real-estate position. Owning 40% of the land in downtown Las Vegas — a position built quietly across 2004–2025 — is one of the more consequential single-investor real-estate concentrations in any major American city.

The third is BICOM and the UK-Israel relationship layer. Poju is the single most consequential private funder of the UK pro-Israel advocacy and government-relations layer of the past two decades. The platform he built has shaped how every UK government since the early 2000s has engaged with Israeli diplomatic and policy questions, across both Conservative and Labour administrations.

Why Zabludowicz Matters Now

In 2025–2026, with the UK Labour government in office and UK-Israel diplomatic dynamics in active reconfiguration, BICOM's role and the broader Zabludowicz-funded UK pro-Israel infrastructure are at maximum operational relevance. The platform Poju built across two decades is now operating inside the most consequential UK-Israel political environment in a generation.

The Tamares Telecom subsea cable, in an era of intensified Middle East geopolitical tension and concentrated focus on critical infrastructure redundancy, is one of the more strategically significant Israeli-Europe physical links. The investment thesis from 2010 has compounded into a 2026 infrastructure position with national-security relevance.

FAQ

Who is Poju Zabludowicz?
Chaim "Poju" Zabludowicz (born April 6, 1953, Helsinki) is a Finnish-British-Israeli billionaire and Chairman of Tamares Group, the family holding company founded by his father Shlomo Zabludowicz. He owns 40% of downtown Las Vegas land, operates the Tamares Telecom Israel-Europe undersea cable, runs the 5,000-work Zabludowicz Collection art platform with his wife Anita, and founded BICOM, the UK's principal pro-Israel advocacy organization. Sunday Times Rich List 2021 ranked him 111th in the UK with net worth £1.5 billion.

What is Tamares Group?
Tamares Group is a private investment holding company founded by Shlomo Zabludowicz after the Second World War and headed by his son Poju since 1990. Headquartered in London and registered in Liechtenstein, Tamares operates a $3 billion portfolio across real estate, technology, financial services, and media. Major positions include 40% of downtown Las Vegas land, 1500 Broadway in New York, the Tamares Telecom undersea cable connecting Israel to Europe, and equity stakes in Addepar, Pontifax, AImotive, and Siklu.

How did Poju Zabludowicz make his fortune?
In two chapters. The first is the inherited Soltam defense business — the Israeli arms manufacturer his father Shlomo built. Poju sold Soltam to Koor Industries in the early 1990s. The second, and larger, is the diversified Tamares portfolio he built across the 1990s–2020s, anchored by the 2004 acquisition of 40 acres in downtown Las Vegas (now 40% of downtown Las Vegas land), the Tamares Telecom undersea cable, and a global real-estate footprint of 2.3 million sq ft.

What is BICOM?
BICOM (Britain Israel Communications and Research Centre) is the UK's principal pro-Israel advocacy, research, and government-relations organization. Founded by Poju Zabludowicz in 2001 and primarily funded by him for two decades, BICOM is the central UK-based institutional platform for engagement between the British political and media class and Israeli diplomatic interests. Poju has personally given the platform more than £2 million across multi-year periods.

What is the Zabludowicz Collection?
The Zabludowicz Collection is a 500-artist, 5,000-work private contemporary art collection assembled by Poju and Anita Zabludowicz since the 1990s. From 2007 to 2023 the collection ran a public exhibition space at 176 Prince of Wales Road, a former Methodist chapel in Camden, North London. The collection is among the most significant in Europe and has hosted exhibitions, residencies (including a Las Vegas program), and the first dedicated exhibition space for VR art works in the UK.

Is Poju Zabludowicz related to Arie Belldegrun?
Yes. Poju's sister Dr. Rebecka Belldegrun is married to Dr. Arie Belldegrun — the Israeli-American oncologist who founded Kite Pharma (sold to Gilead in 2017 for $11.9 billion) and is one of the most consequential figures in modern cancer immunotherapy. The Zabludowicz-Belldegrun family link is one of the more under-discussed structural connections in the global Jewish business and biotech economy.

More from The Builders

• Nathan Kirsh: The Eswatini Billionaire Behind Jetro Restaurant Depot
• Eric Samson: South Africa's Quiet Steel King
• Larry Kestelman: Dodo, NBL, and the LK Group Empire
• John Gandel: Australia's Largest Mall Owner

The Olam Editorial Team | The Builders / הבונים