Noam Gottesman, the co-founder of hedge fund manager GLG Partners, has launched and floated a $500 million vehicle to a potential takeover target with ties to Israel or the Middle East.

Gottesman has teamed up for the venture with Martin Franklin, an expert in special purpose acquisition vehicles who chaired the SPAC that was used to list GLG on the New York Stock Exchange through a $3.4 billion reverse acquisition in November 2007. Franklin joined GLG's board following the deal.