Tal Kedem on the way to an exit: Menora enters into an investment in the Agility hedge fund

Three years after resigning from his position as CEO of Harel Finance and establishing the Agility hedge fund, Tal Kedem is facing an exit. Calcalist has learned that Kedem and his partner Udi Biton are set to sell a 25%–30% stake in the hedge fund they founded, Agility, to the insurance company Menora at a valuation of approximately 300 million shekels, meaning a payment of 75–100 million shekels.

Menora, controlled by Eran Greifel and managed by Ari Kalman, had been courting Agility for a long time, but the parties did not reach an agreement regarding the valuation until recently. It is possible that the maturation of the negotiations relates to the fact that in recent weeks several deals were signed in which investment houses and insurance companies acquired hedge funds. The acquisitions were made out of a desire to increase the growth engines of institutional investors, whose mutual funds provide limited and relatively insignificant profit. Institutional investors are also looking to increase the variety of investment strategies. Hedge funds charge high management fees alongside a 20% performance fee. Connecting to Menora could increase Agility's distribution and marketing capabilities and expose it to the insurance company's large customer base.

Thus, IBI acquired the Plutus fund for 15 million shekels, Meitav acquired the Trio fund for 30 million shekels, and Harel acquired the Tulip fund for approximately 30 million shekels. Menora prefers to take a bigger step. The hedge fund market is divided into two: dozens of small funds managing hundreds of millions of shekels, and about six large funds managing over a billion shekels. Agility currently stands at the top of the hedge funds alongside Noked, Hatzavim, Sphera, AON, and Alpha. Menora decided to aim for one of the six. Agility manages about 2 billion shekels, and from Menora's perspective, it has growth potential given that Kedem is considered one of the most prominent marketers in the market. The deal, as far as is known, also includes a mechanism that will allow Menora to increase its holding in the future.

Kedem and Biton are former Psagot employees who worked for years with Roi Vermus, who himself founded a hedge fund that became the largest in the country — Noked. Kedem, who served as deputy CEO under Vermus, moved from Psagot to Harel, where he reached the position of CEO of the insurance company's investment house, Harel Finance, until he decided to go independent and founded the hedge fund with Biton. Biton served as the Nostro investment manager at Psagot, but before that, he served as VP of Mutual Fund Investments at Menora, and this is the common point between Agility and Menora. Another partner at Agility is Michal Olstein, who previously served as Deputy CEO of Harel Investment Management and VP at Harel Finance.

The prominent funds of Agility are Agility Strategy, which operates in long-short on the Israeli market, Agility 125, which aims to beat the Israeli index (finished 2025 with a return of 48.1% against a benchmark index of 51%), Agility Bond, which is active in corporate bonds in Israel, and Agility Universe, which is active in global stocks and bonds. Last January, Agility led an investment of 10 million dollars with Israeli institutional investors in the energy company ECO, which is traded on the London Stock Exchange, and has a multi-year strategic cooperation agreement with Navitas of Gideon Tadmor.

The hedge fund market manages about 100 billion shekels and includes, as mentioned, hundreds of funds that are roughly divided into dozens of small funds managing tens of millions of shekels, a small number of medium-sized funds managing hundreds of millions of shekels, and six funds managing several billion shekels. Institutional investors, for their part, have identified the opportunity to purchase or invest in small and medium-sized hedge funds for tens of millions of shekels. Hedge funds manage wealth for only a few of the qualified population in Israel. There is already a significant investment that connects the world of hedging to the public of savers, following the establishment of hedge funds in trust. This is an industry that already manages 5 billion shekels and is open to the general public. Hedge funds in trust are managed freely like hedge funds, but they are under a known and supervised regulatory structure, subject to the Joint Investment Trust Law and the supervision of the Securities Authority.