Thursday, December 27, 2007

Ofer Shipping to invest $30 mln in Agassi's electric car venture

Reuters reports that Israel's Ofer Shipping Holdings will invest $30 million in the Project Better Place electric car venture led by entrepreneur Shai Agassi, holding company Israel Corp. said on Thursday.

Ofer Shipping is owned by the Ofer family, which also controls Israel Corp. Israel Corp. earlier acquired a 33 percent stake in the electric car venture after agreeing to invest $100 million.

The total investment in the initial phase of the car venture will be $200 million, giving the Ofer family a majority stake in the venture.

Agassi in March resigned as head of software products at German software maker SAP to pursue interests in environmental policy and alternative energy resources.

Israel Corp. owns stakes in chemicals, energy, shipping and semiconductor firms.