Hong Kong investment bank Ion Pacific has opened an office in Israel

Hong Kong investment bank Ion Pacific has opened an office in Israel to expand its activity in the local market. The activity will be managed by Eran Zack, former head of investment banking at Poalim Capital Markets and an investment banker in the mergers and acquisitions groups of Merrill Lynch and Lehman Brothers.
The investment bank Ion Pacific was established in 2015 by Itamar Har Even and Michael Joseph - both of whom have extensive experience in investment and consulting and part of the founding team of the Hong Kong investment bank Reorient Group, which was sold to Jack Ma from Alibaba.

Ion Pacific has offices in Hong Kong, London and now in Israel. The Bank focuses on two main business activities: cross-border consulting - a team of senior consultants with a multi-cultural background, at least a decade of experience in Asia and deep ties in the continent that enable access to companies and investors in the region. In addition, the Bank is engaged in direct investments with expertise in providing creative solutions in complex and special situations where traditional players in the capital market usually have difficulty.

To date, the Bank has invested $ 45 million in investments in Israel - two of which were invested in Israeli venture capital funds and the third in Credorax, which deals in the field of Pintek. The opening of the Israeli branch is intended to increase the volume of investments in Israel to about $ 100 million in the coming years, as well as to expand the consulting activity and open doors for Israeli companies in the Asian markets, with an emphasis on China. The Bank will focus on investments in technology and healthcare.

Eran Zack, Director of Ion Pacific Israel: "In recent years, the interest has grown from Asian companies in the Israeli market, and is continuing to grow, with investments focusing on the areas of artificial intelligence, Big Data, Cyber, Pintek, "The tightening regulatory oversight in the US is deterring Chinese investors and pushing them to seek innovation elsewhere. These factors create fertile ground for close cooperation between Israel and China.