Famous Austrians

Frank  Stronach is an Austrian-Canadian businessman. He is the founder of Magna International, an automotive parts company based in Canada, and Magna Entertainment Corp., which specializes in horse-racing entertainment.
Born in the small town in Styria, Austria to a working-class couple, he left school to apprentice as a tool maker.
In 1954, he immigrated to Canada and started his first business there. In 1986, Stronach founded Magna Europa, with headquarters in Lower Austria, which later became Magna Steyr

Stronach, Sberbank and Opel

TORONTO (Reuters) – Magna International chairman Frank Stronach, who left Europe a virtually penniless toolmaker over 50 years ago, made a deal for Germany’s Opel, which will impact all world automobile industry.

The 76-year-old Magna founder -a rags-to-riches tycoon – emigrated to Canada aged 21. Now his auto parts firm has clinched a deal to take an Opel stake, after a week of negotiations. The son of a labour rights activist father and a factory worker mother, Stronach left school aged 14 to become a tool and die apprentice at a factory in Weiz, Styria.

His personal fortune is now estimated at over $1 billion, but when he arrived in Canada, Stronach’s first job was peeling potatoes and washing dishes in a hospital kitchen.

“I experienced what it was like to be hungry, to be discriminated against and to be treated unfairly,” Stronach has said.

He now prides himself on treating his workforce well. Staffs receive a share in company profits and individual plants are run as independent entities.

Now, more than half a century on as an unprecedented crisis engulfs the automotive industry, Stronach is setting his sights on Europe and Russia.

The company that started out in a Toronto garage over 50 years ago may emerge as a major player in Western European auto market, competing against the likes of Fiat, BMW and Volkswagen AG, all of which Magna currently counts as customers.

Stronach’s reputation as a fair boss led Opel labor leaders to favor Magna’s bid early.
Magna, the world’s third largest automotive parts supplier by revenue, is partnering with Russia’s largest lender Sberbank on the 700 million euro Opel bid.  Edited by Galina Toktalieva

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Tags: Frank Stronach, Opel, Sberbank

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