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Yakir Gabay

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Yakir Gabay
Born1966 (age 57–58)
Jerusalem, Israel
CitizenshipCypriot
EducationHebrew University
OccupationReal estate businessman
Known forOwns 10% of Aroundtown SA
TitleDeputy chairman of the advisory board, Aroundtown SA
SpouseElena Gabay
ParentMeir Gabay

Yakir Gabay (Hebrew: יקיר גבאי, born 1966) is a Cypriot-Israeli billionaire real estate businessman, based in London. He owns 10% of Frankfurt-listed Luxembourgish real estate company Aroundtown SA.[1]

Gabay is the son of Meir Gabay, a former Director-General of the Israeli Ministry of Justice who also served as the Civil Service Commissioner of Israel, in addition to being elected the President of the United Nations Administrative Tribunal. Yemima Gabay, his mother, was a senior at the Israeli State Attorney's Office and Director of the Pardons Department in the State of Israel's Ministry of Justice.

Early life

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Gabay was born in Jerusalem.[2] He completed a BS degree in economics and accounting, and an MBA degree in finance and business development at the Hebrew University.[citation needed]

Career

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Gabay started his career in the Prospectus Department of Israel’s SEC.

He then served in management positions in the capital market as an investment banker. In the mid-1990s, he served as CEO of the investment banking division of Bank Leumi.[3] At the beginning of 2000, Gabay served as chairman and partner of Gmul Investments,[4] which then managed investments for pension funds, in real estate and securities totaling $30 Billions.[5]

In 2004, Gabay established real estate investment activity in Berlin and expanded to other large cities in Germany, UK and the Netherlands in the residential, hotel and office markets. He co-invested with private investors as well as institutional investors amongst the largest in the world mainly through the real estate companies Aroundtown and Grand City Properties. The Group's properties are located in the major cities of Germany, UK and the Netherlands.[citation needed]

Aroundtown SA and Grand City Properties S.A.

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In mid-2012, Gabay issued Grand City Properties SA,[6] a residential company, at a company value of €150 million and price share of €2.7.[7] The issue is considered most successful on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. The company is traded on prime standard segment of the Frankfurt stock exchange, with total assets over €10 billion and at a market cap of €3.6 billion with price share of €20 (as of December 2020),[8] and is included in the major stock indices such as MDAX.

In mid-2015, Gabay listed the shares of Aroundtown SA in both Euronext Paris and the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, at a company value of €1.5 billion and share price of €3.2.[9] The listing was successful with more than doubling of the share price to 6.2[10] in December 2020[11] The company is traded on the prime standard segment of Frankfurt stock exchange, at a market value of €10 billion[12] (as of December 2020)[13] and is included in the main stock indices such as MDAX.

Aroundtown SA and Grand City Properties are both ranked by Standard & Poor's Global Ratings BBB +.[14][15]

Merger with TLG

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Aroundtown which is the largest listed commercial real estate company in Germany, merged in February 2020 with TLG Immobilien AG[16] which was traded on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange with market cap of over €3 billion. The merged company Aroundtown SA is traded on the prime standard segment of Frankfurt stock exchange, at a market value of €10 billion (as of December 2020)[12] and is included in the main stock indices such as MDAX.[17] As of Q3 2020 total assets of Aroundtown are over €32 billion.[citation needed]

Gabay held 36% of the shares of Aroundtown SA.[18]

In September 2019 Gabay sold €1.5 worth of Aroundtown shares which reduced his holdings in Aroundtown to 10% as of December 2020. Aroundtown SA owns 40 percent of Grand City Properties, whose portfolio includes 60,000 apartments in Germany and over 3,000 in London.[19]

Management strategy

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The strategy of the companies is based on the acquisition of real estate properties in central locations, their improvement and optimize return and creates an efficient management.[20]

Personal life

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He is married to Elena, and they live in London, England.[1][21]

Gabay was involved in a long-standing group chat from October 2023 through early May 2024 with some of the United States' most powerful business leaders with the stated goals of "chang[ing] the narrative" in favor of Israel and "help[ing] win the war" on U.S. public opinion following Hamas's October 7th attack on Israel.[22] Members of the group chat discussed how they received private briefings by, and worked closely with, members of the Israeli government, including former Israeli prime minister Naftali Bennett; Benny Gantz, a member of the Israeli war cabinet; and Israel’s ambassador to the United States, Michael Herzog.[22] Group members also held a video call in late April 2024 with New York City Mayor Eric Adams in an effort to, according to reporting by The Washington Post, "pressure Columbia’s president and trustees to permit the mayor to send police to the campus" to shut down criticism of Israel's offensive military operations in Gaza, which many campus protesters, intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations, civil servants, and governments around the world have alleged to be genocide.[22] During the video call, group members discussed making political donations to Adams.[22] A spokesperson said Gabay did not donate to Adams.[22]

References

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  1. ^ a b "Forbes profile: Yakir Gabay". Forbes. Retrieved 18 March 2021.
  2. ^ "The Top 30 Richest People in 2019 Israel, and Where They Get Their Money". Haaretz. 19 June 2019. Retrieved 18 March 2021.
  3. ^ "Big in Berlin". Haaretz.
  4. ^ "Avisco Group". avisco-group.com. July 7, 2022.
  5. ^ "Aroundtown+S.A." www.bloomberg.com. Retrieved 8 September 2018.
  6. ^ "Grand City Properties aims to join major Frankfurt stock index next year". Reuters. October 31, 2016 – via www.reuters.com.
  7. ^ "Company Profile - Grand City Properties S.A". grandcityproperties.com. Retrieved 8 September 2018.
  8. ^ Frankfurt Stock Exchange. "Börse Frankfurt news". www.boerse-frankfurt.de. Retrieved 2020-12-28.
  9. ^ "Milestones - Aroundtown SA - Largest German Listed Commercial Real Estate Company". www.aroundtown.de. Retrieved 8 September 2018.
  10. ^ "AROUNDTOWN SA (ETR:AT1) Share News | Dec 2020". Stockopedia. Retrieved 2020-12-28.
  11. ^ "AROUNDTOWN SA Aktie - Aktienkurs - A2DW8Z - Börse Frankfurt". www.boerse-frankfurt.de. Retrieved 8 September 2018.
  12. ^ a b "Aroundtown SA Aktie | A2DW8Z | LU1673108939 | Aktienkurs". www.boerse-frankfurt.de. Retrieved 2020-12-28.
  13. ^ "Aroundtown SA announces Q1 2020 Results following consolidation of TLG - dgap.de". www.dgap.de. Retrieved 2020-06-03.
  14. ^ "Investegate |Aroundtown SA Announcements | Aroundtown SA: Aroundtown SA announces S&P rating upgrade to 'BBB+' based on strong business profile". www.investegate.co.uk.
  15. ^ "The Stock - Grand City Properties S.A." grandcityproperties.com. Archived from the original on 2018-10-30.
  16. ^ "TLG-Aktie gewinnt: TLG Immobilien steigert Nettoinventarwert". finanzen.net (in German). Retrieved 2020-06-04.
  17. ^ "Merger: Expiration of Initial Acceptance Period - TLG Shareholders Accept Exchange Offer for Majority of Shares - dgap.de". www.dgap.de. Retrieved 2020-06-04.
  18. ^ "Aroundtown hat für 1,4 Mrd. Euro zugekauft". www.immobilien-zeitung.de. Retrieved 8 September 2018.
  19. ^ "Portfolio - Aroundtown SA - Largest German Listed Commercial Real Estate Company". www.aroundtown.de.
  20. ^ "The Big Long: bets pile up on German property | IFR". IFRe.
  21. ^ "THE LOUNGE". The Jerusalem Post. May 22, 2018. Retrieved 5 March 2023 – via PressReader.
  22. ^ a b c d e Natanson, Hannah; Felton, Emmanuel (May 16, 2024). "Business titans privately urged NYC mayor to use police on Columbia protesters, chats show". Washington Post. Retrieved May 17, 2024.