"My family has a history of investing in Israel, and the fact that this meeting is taking place here in Israel ... attests to the group's strong deep commitment to Israel," added Abigail Disney.

Gold said that one field of particular interest to Shamrock is Israel's defense industry, which is undergoing consolidation. The government is planning to begin privatizing its defense companies soon, and Shamrock is considering joining one of the consortia expected to bid for Israel Military Industries, he said.

Shamrock is also interested in the Oil Refineries, once the government's plan to split the company in two and privatize both parts gets under way, said Shamrock managing director Robert Moskowitz...

Abigail Disney said that her particular field of interest is media companies. "Apparently, it's genetic," she smiled...

Although Shamrock's recent investments in Israel have all been in small companies, in the past it invested in several major firms, including the holding company Koor Industries, Matav Cable Systems Media, the cellular telephone operator Pelephone, Dor Energy and defense communications company Tadiran Communications. Moskowitz said that Tadiran was the fund's most successful deal: Shamrock invested $15 million in the company, and left with $180 million.

Until now, Shamrock's investments in Israel have been evenly divided between domestic- and export-oriented companies. But in the future, Moskowitz said, this is likely to shift to about 75 percent export-oriented.

Shamrock officials said that about 10 to 20 percent of the fund's portfolio has traditionally been in Israel, with the rest concentrated in the United States, and this will likely continue.