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The sons of Polish immigrants, Sam, William and Hyman Belzberg have invested the proceeds of their real estate and oil and gas investments in a complex tangle of public and private firms said to be worth some $8 billion. U.S. holdings include Manhattan-based First City Capital, a subsidiary of Vancouver's First City Financial (assets: $2.9 billion); Far West Financial, a large California savings and loan; Connecticut-based Scovill, an industrial firm that makes Yale locks and other consumer products; and substantial stakes in about 20 other major U.S. firms.
THE BRONFMANS. As the undisputed kings of the North American liquor business following America's Prohibition era, the Bronfmans were among the pioneers of cross-border investment. Their main company, Seagram (1985 sales: $2.9 billion), is now the world's largest distillery. Chief Executive Edgar Bronfman Sr. shuttles regularly between the firm's Montreal headquarters and the New York offices of its U.S. subsidiary. An American citizen since 1959, Bronfman has engineered Seagram's purchase of 22.5% of the outstanding shares of Du Pont, the huge oil-and-chemicals company (1985 sales: $29.5 billion). Seagram now owns more of that firm's stock than the Du Pont family does. Says Bronfman: "It's the size of the U.S. market that lures Canadian investors here."
Edgar's first cousins, Edward and Peter Bronfman, known in Canada as the "poor Bronfmans," have not changed their citizenship, but they have invested in the U.S. By selling half their Seagram stock during the 1960s, Edward and Peter multiplied their assets into controlling interests in more than 100 companies with an estimated total value of more than $30 billion. In the U.S., those holdings include the Maryland-based Rouse Co. (1985 revenues: $247 million) and California's Ernest Hahn real estate.
In the wake of the impressive successes that Canada's richest families have scored in the U.S., growing numbers of smaller investors are expected to look southward as well. Last week the U.S. Government encouraged that trend by sponsoring three "Invest in the U.S.A." seminars in Canada, at which lawyers and accountants dispensed tips on how to get started in business in the U.S. Twenty-five states participated, hoping to lure Canadian investment. In a new version of the old wintertime travel advertisements for Florida aimed at shivering Northerners, the U.S. is telling Canada, "Come on down!" More and more Canadians are accepting the invitation, with pleasure.