The international “TIGER 21” wealth club is planning to open a chapter in Tel Aviv, according to a report by the Globes business news site.
The organization, founded in 1999 by 67-year-old real estate mogul and philanthropist Michael Sonnenfeldt, charges an annual membership fee of $33,000 and has about 1,300 members worldwide. The group operates clubs in the United States, Canada, Great Britain, and Switzerland. Israel is next.
Membership is comprised of entrepreneurs, investors, and senior executives who own a minimum of $20 million in liquid capital. They gather once a month in a closed forum to discuss their investments and learn from each other with the goal of preserving their personal wealth.
Once a year each member presents his or her portfolio and its performance to the group. “The value of learning from the group and from everyone’s perspective, about the advantages and disadvantages” is seen by many as “the most important thing we do,” Sonnenfeldt said. Recently, he donated to establish the Goldman Sonnenfeldt School of Sustainability and Climate Change at Ben Gurion University of the Negev.
TIGER 21’s annual conference, held this past March, included Israeli former prime minister Naftali Bennett and the late Jewish American billionaire real estate tycoon Sam Zell among its featured guest speakers.
“The members of our network are mostly entrepreneurs who’ve made an exit, others who still own their businesses, and also people in senior management who have retired,” explains Sonnenfeld in an interview with Globes. “When they join us, they join a group, generally on a geographical basis.” The group in Tel Aviv is to be headed by former Microsoft executive and start-up investor Beny Rubinstein, he added.
“Israel is quite unique because we have many members who have family or friends here,” Sonnenfeldt told Globes.
“Many of our members are familiar with the ‘Startup Nation’ and the entrepreneurial environment in Israel. We mapped cities around the world where people invest, and Tel Aviv was on the list … I know quite a few successful Israelis, and each has to balance between domestic and foreign opportunities and challenges. A network like ours connects them to views that could not easily gain access to. This is a community like no other.”
