California controller plans to deepen Israel investments

California's state controller and former vice president of eBay, Steve Westly, announced at the end of last week that his state intends to expand its investments in Israel.

Westly laid out his goal to strengthen the tie between the two economies in a speech at an Israel Venture Association (IVA) conference in Silicon Valley. He called Israel a "growing and developing market," which is the right place for long-term investment. He also pledged to work even further in this direction, "when I'm elected governor."

Westly, who was elected state controller in 2002, is for all intents and purposes the finance minister of California, which is ranked as the world's sixth-largest economy. He is directly responsible for an annual $100 billion budget and a further $300 billion in state workers' pension funds, including the world's largest - CalPERS.

With Westly's support, CalPERS, the California employees state pension fund, has increased its investments in Israel from $30 million between 2000 and 2003 to $100 million in 2004-2005. CalPERS invested an estimated $100 million in eight Israeli VC funds, among them $50 million in Markstone Capital Group, which manages $700 million. Westly's associates later said that Markstone is likely to raise a new $2 billion fund within two years. "The pension fund of California will invest about $150 million in this fund," they asserted.

	Steve Westly
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