Sarlos is Dead

[Wally Keeler]

FORWARD################################

Andrew Sarlos dies of heart failure
Buddha of Bay Street helped shape Corporate Canada
BY ANDREW WILLIS
Investment Reporter

TORONTO Deal maker Andrew Sarlos, often called the Buddha of Bay Street,
died yesterday of heart failure at age 65.
For the past three decades, the Hungarian-born investor made and lost
fortunes betting on takeovers that helped shape Corporate Canada. Mr.
Sarlos battled heart problems for many years. He is survived by his wife
Mary, whom he met at a church dance in Sudbury in 1958, and son Peter and
his wife.
"He was an extraordinary man honourable and kind and an excellent
adviser," said Anna Porter, chief executive officer of Key Porter Books
and a fellow Hungarian-Canadian. "He had this calm in the face of turmoil,
something that I think a wide circle of friends drew strength from."
Added Maurice Strong, a longtime friend and current executive co~ordinator
for reform at the Uni~ed Nations in New York:
"Andy could be a formidable business adversary, but he also had a sense of
graciousness and thoughtfulness that permeated everything he did."
Mr. Strong had lunch with Mr. Sarlos a few weeks ago. "As always, he was
upbeat, looking at future trends and what they were going to mean to the
market."
Key Porter will publish Mr. Sarlos' second book - Fear, greed and the end
of the rainbow - in the next few weeks. Its theme is how to make money in
the stock market and protect a nest egg. Mr. Sarlos wrote an autobiography
- Fireworks - in 1993. For many years, he wrote for The Moneyletter, which
provides advice to investors.
Mr. Sarlos was an expert on making and losing money.
Born in Budapest in 1931, he served in the Hungarian Air Force as a tail
gunner and was arrested and jailed in 1952 with his entire squadron,
accused of conspiring to defect with their airplanes. Mr. Sarlos spent a
year in prison. He fled Hungary when Soviet troops occupied the country in
1956, arriving in Saint John, N.B., with empty pockets and no coat.
What followed was a classic tale of an immigrant who made good.
Mr. Sarlos became a chartered accountant in Capreol, a town near Sudbury,
Ont., working with engineering consultant Bechtel Canada.
His forays into the stock market began in 1970, when he became
chief financial officer at engineering consulting firm Acres International
and successfully took over financial conglomerate Trader Group Ltd., a far
larger company.
In 1974, Mr Sarlos teamed up with two partners and bought
fireworks maker HCI Holdings Ltd. They turned it into an aggressive
takeover fund that financed acquisitions with bank loans. A $1-million
stock portfolio rose to a $200-million, with HCI making $9million in one
memorable day on an investment in distiller Hiram Walker Gooderham Worts
Ltd. But HCI was laid low by the 1982 recession, which wiped out Mr.
Sarlos's entire holdings of $10-million.
In 1984, he founded an arbitrage fund that bet on major takeovers.
Clients who backed him with $100,000 received $283,913 over the next five
years, but Mr. Sarlos quit the takeover game in 1989 after taking a
$4.9-million hit when a bid for United Airlines Inc. crashed.
For much of the past decade, he ran fund manager Andrew Sarlos &
Associates Ltd. and devoted time to charities that included Toronto
General Hospital, the University of Waterloo and the Shaw Festival.
Mr. Sarlos retained his love of Hungary and returned to the
country as an investor in 1989, cofounding an $80 million fund with fellow
expatriate and billionaire speculator George Soros.
Last year, he was on hand to open Hungary's first shopping mall
with another Hungarian immigrant, TrizecHahn Corp. chief executive officer
Peter Munk, who invested $2-million of his own money in the project.
Mr. Sarlos was in Budapest last year with Ms. Porter. "lt was a
wonderful trip," she said. "He loved the food and all that schmalzy
Hungarian stuff like gypsy music."

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Andrew Sarlos
Age: 65
Born: Budapest
Occupation: Investor & philanthropist

1956: Left Hungary for Austria, eventually arrived in Saint John, N.B., in
the winter of 1957 with no coat.

1958: Qualified as a chartered accountant, and in 1961, worked in Labrador
with engineering firm Bechtel Canada for more than 10 years.

1970: Joined Toronto engineering company Acres International as chief
financial officer and used the firm to take control of financial
conglomerate Traders Group. 1973: Worked briefly as Vancouver financier
Sam Belzberg's personal money manager.

1976: Took control of Toronto fireworks maker Hand Chemical Industries and
turned it into investment fund HCI Holdings with two partners, Barry
Zukerman and Jack Mackenzie.

1979: Introduced the Canadian establishment to hostile takeovers by taking
a run at Hiram Walker, the country's second - largest distillery. Made
$9-million in one day as Hiram Walker fought off his bid.

1989: ~st $4.9-million on an aborted takeover of United Airlines, wound up
funds that actively played the takeover gain.

1989: Co-founded the $80-million U.S. First Hungary Fund with billionaire
speculator George Soros.

Quotable: "In my youth I secretly took a pledge of prosperity. I don't
think my achievement of this ambition had anything to do with greed. I
have no respect for greed. Today you might call me a capitalist with an
attitude. That attitude is the result of a childhood spent in modest
circumstances and teen years given over to being a budding social reformer."

[danu...@antispam.halcyon.com]

On 4 May 1997 19:51:39 GMT, Wally Keeler <cd...@FreeNet.Carleton.CA> wrote:
>
>TORONTO Deal maker Andrew Sarlos, often called the Buddha of Bay Street,
>died yesterday of heart failure at age 65.

Why the name "Buddha?" Was he that fat or somethin'?

Joe Pannon
----------
REMINDER: Please correct my e-mail address in any personal reply by
removing the "antiSPAM." part from it. I have altered the address
in the hope of defeating address grabbing SPAM software. Thanks, JP

[Wally Keeler]

danu...@halcyon.com (danu...@antiSPAM.halcyon.com) writes:
> On 4 May 1997 19:51:39 GMT, Wally Keeler <cd...@FreeNet.Carleton.CA> wrote:

>>TORONTO Deal maker Andrew Sarlos, often called the Buddha of Bay Street,
>>died yesterday of heart failure at age 65.
>

> Why the name "Buddha?" Was he that fat or somethin'?
> Joe Pannon

The times I encountered him, my impression was "elfish."

Others took two elements -- wisdom and the allitirative phrase -- to
derive Bhudda. For those who may not be familiar, Bay Street is Toronto's
nickel and dime equivalent of Wall Street. Perhaps another reason was his
avoidance of ostentatiousness -- his office was as exquisite as a haiku.