New York's Genger
Works On Israel Profits

ALLISON KAPLAN SOMMER SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS

hen New York busi-
Arye
nessman
Genger made the
rounds of Wall
Street boardrooms in the
mid-1980s trying to raise
money for a large-scale
investment in Israel, he was
treated more than once to
the famous joke:
How do you make a small
fortune in Israel? Bring

( THE REPUBLIC BANK
RATE TABLE

"

Gain Access to
Outstanding
Investment Managers

Rates and prices that affect your
daily finances as of 7/9/93

6.0%
Prime rate
3.14%
Six Month
$1.01.9
Gallon Unleaded Gas
Avg. Price Greater-Bloomfield
$155,350
Area Home
$.801 U.S.
Canadian dollar

PaineWebber has the key to finding the right
money manager for individuals and institutions
with portfolios of $100,000 or more.
Find out about PAINEWEBBER ACCESS:
a comprehensive approach to
total portfolio planning and management.

DETROIT ZOO
ADMISSION $6.00

Call For Details
or Visit Republic Bank Today!

For a free consultation call
Gerald E. Naftaly or Alan A. Gildenberg
at (313) 851-1001 or (800) 533-1407.

Cr
EQUAL
HOUSING
LENDER

PaineWebber
We invest in relationships.

Member SIPC

STOCKS TAX-FREE BONDS MUTUAL FUNDS

X

E

P
T

F

First of Michigan
Corporation

FoM

Herman Schwartz

N

Senior Vice President - Investments

Branch Manager

T

R

U

Travelers Tower / Suite 1020

26555 Evergreen Road / Southfield, Mich. 48076

S

T

S

N
A

INVESTMENTS

Members New York Stock Exchange, Inc

(313) 358-3290

A
L

TAX DEFERRED ANNUITIES

-

-

IRA's

E.

FDIC

GOLD • SILVER
PLATINUM

Michigan's MarketMakers
in Coins and Bars
"Sell Where the Dealers Sell"

BARN=TT
RARITIES

CORORATON

P
L
A

189 MERRILL ST. BIRM., MI 48009

N

CLASSIFIED
GET RESULTS!

N
G

Toll Free 1 800 826 2039

-

.

1700 N. Woodward Ave., Bloomfield Hills
258-5300
18720 Mack Ave., Grosse Pointe Farms

32300 Northwestern Hwy., Suite 150 Farmington Hills, MI 48334

T
A
X

REPUBLIC
BANK Member

-

MONEY MANAGEMENT

PUN A.

(313) 644-1124

Since 1971

Call The Jewish News

354-5959

with you a large one.
Fortunately, during the
profitable 1980s, many of
Mr. Genger's New York col-
leagues, including former
Drexel Burnham junk bond
king Michael Milken, had
large fortunes and were
willing to trust him with a
few million dollars.
At the same time, Mr.
Genger understood that
while wealthy American
Jews were ready to donate
large sums to the United
Jewish Appeal and Israel
Bonds, they were extremely
reluctant to make signifi-
cant business investments
in Israel.
"In the end, people
invested in me because they
knew it was important to
me," Mr. Genger recalls.
"They said, `Genger is nuts,
but let's give him a million
dollars, let him do what he
wants to do, and anyway
he'll break his bank.'
"For them, I was doing a
crazy thing, because I was
wasting a lot of time and a
lot of energy for a little piece
of business, since I was used
to much larger orders.
"But for me, making it a
success was an important
thing because I knew that if
I failed, I would be another
example of someone who
came to Israel and turned a
large fortune into a small
one. So I had two missions
— to be successful and then
to spread the gospel that it
can be done by others, too."
Over the past seven
years, during which he pur-
chased Haifa Chemicals,
Mr. Genger has proved his
ideas were not crazy.
The 25-year-old chemical
company, which was recent-
ly valued at $500 million by
the Giza banking and advis-
ing firm for its upcoming
public offering, is the
world's largest producer of
high-quality fertilizer.
Haifa Chemical produces
potassium nitrate, which is

processed from raw potash,
one of Israel's most abun-
dant raw materials. Mr.
Genger and a number of
investors established the
U.S.-based Trans Resources
Co., which purchased 52
percent of the company in
1986 for $19.5 million. Two
years later, the group
bought the remaining stock
for $56 million, and then
invested an additional $90
million into the company.
Eventually, Mr. Genger
bought out his partners.
In 1992, the concern had
$199 million in sales, most
of which were exports.
Currently, Haifa Chemicals
has one factory, employing
550 workers, which converts
potash to potassium nitrate.
However, for the past year-
and-a-half, Mr. Genger has
been planning to build a
second factory in the Negev.

The company
expects its output
to reach $100
million annually.

Mr. Genger manages his
Israeli and international
holdings from New York,
where he lives with his wife
Dalia, and his daughter,
Orly. His son, Saguy,
though American-born,
returned to Israel to serve
in the army.
Recently, he went to
Israel to lay the plant's cor-
nerstone, which is located in
Rotem, near Dimona. The
company plans to invest
$150 million in building the
plant, and expects its out-
put to reach $100 million
annually.
Besides dealing with the
new factory, Mr. Genger is
trying to polish his tar-
nished image in the Israeli
press, which generally does
not admire expatriates who
become American citizens.
A Tel Aviv native, Mr.
Genger moved to the United
States shortly after being
discharged from the IDF.
There he hitched himself to
expatriate Meshulam Riklis
— whom he loyally served
through rocky periods —
and enjoyed a meteoric rise
in the billionaire's company
at a remarkably young age.

2

K

K