Opportunity, Inc.

wice in 25 years the Office of Alien Property confiscated the German-owned American Bosch Corp. Once, after World War I, the Germans slyly got it back. Lask week the Government sold the company again, but this time it made sure that no alien would ever again control Bosch. The buyer was Allen & Co., an aggressive Wall Street investment banking house with the reputation of holding on to what it gets.

Snap-Up. Allen & Co. thought that Bosch (fuel injection pumps, automotive equipment) would link up nicely with Brooklyn's Amra Corp. (electronic devices), which Allen bought into in 1946. So Allen got Amra to put up part of the $6,044,748 it took to buy OAP's 77% interest in Bosch, borrowed the rest. With Bosch, Amra got a company that grossed over $19 million last year, a plant in Springfield, Mass, and a bagful of German patents. Allen & Co. also strengthened its foothold in the electric manufacturing field.

The footholds Allen & Co. already has in a dozen other fields would confuse a centipede. Through firms in which it holds controlling or substantial minority interests, Allen & Co. digs iron ore in Wyoming, gold in the Philippines, manages real estate in North Kansas City, New York City and Beverly Hills, runs railroads, buses and bridges in the Middle West. One of its biggest holdings is Colorado Fuel & Iron Corp., bought from the Rockefellers. All told, the companies Allen has a guiding hand in have a net worth of above $200 million, net $15 to $20 million a year profit. Allen does not look for immediate earnings but for long-term capital gains. Its income from banking and shrewd investing is big enough to keep the four working partners (three of them are Aliens) looking for more branches for its ever-growing empire.

Snap Judgments. The head and principal builder is dapper, soft-spoken Charles Allen Jr. (45), who has learned the tricks of his trade during 30 years in Wall Street. Born in New York, the third of seven children, Charlie Allen quit school at 15 to become a runner for the New York Stock Exchange, worked as clerk in a Wall Street house. When he was 19, he knew enough to start his own business as an over-the-counter dealer in unlisted securities. When his brothers Herbert, now 40, and Harold, now 37, had served their apprenticeships in the Street they joined him in his growing business.

Allen got into the buying of companies in the early depression when large blocks of stock were for sale at bargain prices. He pooh-poohs elaborate research before he buys, prides himself on his hunches, snap judgments and untiring hunt for bargains. As a friend put it: "He's a 24-hour man and born with a feel."

Snapped Limbs. One reason why the system pays off is that he sticks to promising companies that already have good management; once he has bought in, he may advise, but seldom gives orders. Like other venture-loving businessmen, he occasionally finds himself out on a limb.

The company was one of the underwriting syndicate, along with Cyrus Eaton's Otis & Co., which promised to float the third Kaiser-Frazer stock issue. When Eaton called off the deal (TIME, May 3), Allen stuck to his word, handed K-F a check for some $2,500,000, ready to take the loss. (K-F later returned the check.)

That didn't faze Allen; he is sure he could have made it up when opportunity knocked again as it would. Says Banker Allen: "I cannot understand people who say there are no opportunities left."

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