By BRUCE HALLETT PRESIDENT

CORRESPONDENT LARRY GURwin knows it sounds old-fashioned, but he still thinks of journalism as a calling. "It gives you the chance to explain a part of the world to people--in my case, what makes financial institutions tick," says Gurwin, a new member of TIME's investigative unit. That dedication is amply displayed in this week's report by Gurwin and Washington correspondent Adam Zagorin on Investcorp, the high-flying and secretive Arab investment boutique that bought Tiffany and Saks Fifth Avenue and engineered the stunning turnaround of Gucci. "Although Gucci is a triumph, many deals have been duds--something few people realize," says Gurwin, who is based in Brussels. "We wanted to take a close look at how Investcorp does business."

To get the story the pair tracked down sources on three continents and combed through reams of corporate documents and court records. Such thoroughness is a Gurwin specialty. "Working with Larry on a story is like being part of an archaeological dig," says TIME chief of correspondents Joelle Attinger. "He painstakingly peels away the layers until the full tale is revealed."

Born in Los Angeles, Gurwin knew early on that he wanted to be a reporter. Anticipating future interviews with tape recorder-skittish subjects, he learned shorthand in high school. After majoring in journalism at New York University, he wrote for Institutional Investor magazine, first in New York City, then from Hong Kong and London.

While in Europe, Gurwin dug into the scandalous transactions of Italy's Banco Ambrosiano, a story that in 1983 won him an Overseas Press Club Award and produced a book, The Calvi Affair. Returning to the U.S. as a free-lancer in 1988, Gurwin helped break another banking scandal, this one involving the Bank of Credit and Commerce International, or B.C.C.I. His exposa spurred a major federal investigation and led to another book, False Profits (1992), written with Peter Truell. We persuaded him to bring his talents to TIME last June.

Gurwin's collaborator on the Investcorp story is himself a master at unraveling tangled business dealings. Zagorin, a 17-year TIME veteran, has reported from Wall Street, the Middle East, Brussels and Paris, where he served as European economic correspondent. Among his assignments was the very B.C.C.I. scandal that Gurwin originally helped unearth. "Our backgrounds made us natural partners," says Gurwin. "Even our writing styles meshed. I wrote the nouns and Adam wrote the verbs."