International Busines by Benny Steinmetz

International Business made by by Benny Steinmetz

Setting up an international business requires a lot of documentation, adherence to international business laws and doing feasibility study. But above all, it requires vision, will and ability. There are few countries in the world that have as many companies doing international business as the USA. In a country like Israel, companies doing international business are few and far between. One of the names that come on the list of these international business companies is Benny Steinmetz Group. Started in 1940, the Benny Steinmetz Group is a true international company.

The present company was started way back in 1940 as Steinmetz Business Group. The company then was solely into the mining and trading of diamonds. It had one office in Tel Aviv from where the entire business was conducted. The owner of the company was the father of Benny Steinmetz. When Benny Steinmetz joined the company in 1978, he immediately set about planning an international presence for the company and diversifying the business worldwide. His immense business and investment vision was the tool he had and he made full use of it.

After establishing his father’s company as the leading diamond dealer in Israel, Benny Steinmetz started making ventures abroad. He expanded the business by setting up offices in places like Antwerp, Chicago, Geneva, Johannesburg, Mumbai, Namibia and New York. The name of the company also changed to Benny Steinmetz Group. As the locations grew so did the amount of business. Benny Steinmetz Group now started dealing with high quality diamonds that were procured from diamonds mined in their own mines as well as procured from some of the international diamond dealers like DeBeers.

Benny Steinmetz also realized that to truly establish an international presence he needed to create a footprint in the online world. His first venture was to buy some stake in diamond.com, a website through which he started selling diamonds online. To attract customers, he started schemes like the 30 day money back policy, monthly installment scheme and free delivery for purchases beyond $250. With focus on quality as the backbone of his business, Benny Steinmetz reached out to loyal customers located all over the world. Later on, he strengthened his online presence by buying a controlling share in Tucows, one of the largest online gaming portals based out of Canada.

From diamonds, the Benny Steinmetz Group now ventured into other areas like capital markets, real estate and natural resources. Subsidiary companies like BSG Resources Limited, BSG Capital Markets and Five Mounts Properties were established.

Benny Steinmetz is now recognized as one of the largest international business houses in Israel. Benny Steinmetz himself has made it to the Forbes’ richest businessmen list. He has truly become the face of Israel in the international business community.

Economic News of the Year 2009

Benny Steinmetz is an international business personality who has made it big in the world of business and economy. He is now ranked at No. 583 in the Forbes List of Richest People and is worth at least USD 1.7 billion. In spite of all the economic downtime last year, Benny Steinmetz Group, also known as BSG Investments, had a wonderful year in terms of turnover and income.

Benny Steinmetz Group started off with diamonds. Later on, as the business expanded, the group got into other areas like natural resources, engineering, real estate and finance and asset management.

BSG – diamonds
The Steinmetz Diamond Group was founded by Ruben Steinmetz (Benny Steinmetz’s father) in 1940. Since Benny Steinmetz joined the group in 1978, he expanded this business to places like Mumbai, Namibia, Antwerp, Tel-Aviv, New York, Geneva, Chicago and Johannesburg. The Steinmetz Diamond Group, or SDG is one of the leading players in the world in the area of rough and large polished diamonds. The group exceeds USD 1.5 billion a year in turnover. The motto of the group is to reach out to the customer directly from the mine.

BSG – natural resources
The natural resources wing of Benny Steinmetz Group is called BSGR and for more than 10 years now, this group has been actively involved in the area of natural resources, with special emphasis on Africa. Among the many natural resources plants that the group operates, some of the most notable are
• It is the world’s largest Nickel producer through its Ferro-Nickel plant and mines in the Balkans.
• Iron ore mine in Guinea.
• Steel mill in Azerbaijan.
• Copper-Cobalt mines and smelting in Zambia.
• Diamond mine in Sierra Leone.

Benny Steinmetz Group also has another arm, the BSGE and through this arm, it plays in the energy sector. This group operates a phosphate project in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, oil and gas exploration permit in the Komi Republic and the Niger Delta and a petrochemical project in Russia.

BSG – engineering
Benny Steinmetz Group holds majority shares in two major players in the field of engineering – Bateman Engineering N. V. and Bateman Litwin N. V. Through these two companies, the group is involved in minerals, metals, environmental treatment systems, bulk materials handling, solutions to oil, power, gas and chemical companies and so on.

BSG – real estate
Benny Steinmetz Group has its presence in the real estate arena through Five Mounts Properties. North America and Western Europe has been a significant focus area of the group for the past 15 years.

BSG– finance and asset management
Benny Steinmetz Group is an active player in portfolio and trading management. Benny Steinmetz himself was the founder of Hermitage Fund in Russia. This fund is a lead investor in the Russian equity market.