Harel Insurance Company

Harel Insurance Company

Harel Insurance Company was founded in 1935 and has evolved into Israel's largest insurance and financial services group by premiums. The firm is controlled through G.Y.N. Financial Consulting and Management Ltd., the holding company of the Hamburger family, with Yair Hamburger serving as Chairman and his siblings Gideon Hamburger and Nurit Manor as co-controlling shareholders. While Harel's core operations span life, health, and general insurance, its investment arm directly manages a portfolio that mirrors the posture of a global real assets investor. The group deploys capital across real estate, infrastructure, and private markets. Its real estate book is notably transatlantic: a joint venture with SL Green Realty Corp. targets New York City properties, including the Pace University dormitory complex at 180-182 Broadway and 2 John Street in Manhattan, alongside a commercial office portfolio in Houston, Texas. In Europe, Harel participates in a sale-leaseback fund managed by LCN Capital Partners and holds a German office portfolio. On the infrastructure side, the firm owns the Emek Habacha Wind Farm in the Golan Heights and is a stakeholder in the Jerusalem Light Rail expansion. The firm also maintains exposure to gold and industrial metals. Harel operates through Gamla Harel Residential Real Estate Ltd. for its Israeli residential development activities and co-invests alongside Manulife on a US real estate joint venture. The firm's public commitments to ESG are evidenced by its Maala Platinum Plus rating for corporate social responsibility and its membership in the Valuable 500, a collective focused on disability inclusion. The family's philanthropic capital flows through the M.E.H. Foundation, known locally as Keren HaMeah. What distinguishes Harel's architecture from a standard institutional LP is its direct co-investment posture: the firm takes joint-venture equity stakes alongside specialist operating partners such as SL Green and Manulife, retaining control and concentration risk that a typical allocator would avoid. This structure places Harel closer to a family office with an insurance balance sheet than to a diversified mutual insurer.