Tim Bouquet is one of the co-authors of the new book
When Indian billionaire businessman Lakshmi Mittal launched an
audacious takeover bid of steel producer Arcelor, the epic corporate
battle sent shockwaves through the political corridors of Europe and
transformed the industry itself.
Sam Thomson spoke to the Sussex-based co-author of the book which
gives the inside story on a deal the business world had never seen
before.
SECRET meetings in remote airfields;
a cast of colourful, super-rich
characters; and more intrigue than
MI6's annual murder mystery party -
the deal between the world's two
largest steel producers was a match
for the most outrageous spy novel.
It was a tale of two men, from two very
different backgrounds. On one side stood
self-made Indian industrialist Lakshmi
Mittal while on the other was mercurial
Frenchman Guy Dollé, chief executive of
Luxembourg-based Arcelor.
Both were in charge of the world's
biggest steel producers, an industry
which was consolidating fast, with Mittal
leading the way by snapping up stateowned
companies across the globe.
When Arcelor began trying to catch up,
it was clear things would come to a head.
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In early 2006, Mittal called Dollé to
announce that he was about to launch
a bid for Arcelor, marking the start of
a dramatic takeover struggle involving
billions of dollars of finance, secretive
government and shareholder manoeuvrings
and accusations of double-dealing
- all with global consequences.
When the smoke cleared six months
later Mittal stood victorious. His company
is now the biggest steel producer in
the world, four times the size of its nearest
rival, and he is Britain's richest man.
Sussex-based freelance journalist Tim
Bouquet has brought the saga to life in his
new book Cold Steel, co-written by PR
executive and former business journalist
Byron Ousey.
Tim decided to write the book after
interviewing Mittal for a profile in The
Daily Telegraph magazine - the first time
the businesses magnate had agreed to
such an article.
Tim admits: "I knew nothing about
steel. But I know what a good story is and
this was one hell of a thriller.
"It was a fascinating insight into how
these kind of deals work. It had everything
a war had; the heavy hitters, the
intelligence gathering, the saboteurs.
"It was a fantastic journey into the
world of investment banking and the big
beasts which lurk there.
"Both sides had about 100 lawyers and
made a combined $300 million between
them. People were checking into hotels
under assumed names, there were secret
meetings in private airfields and lots of
exotic billionaires who kept changing
sides.
"It was a surreal atmosphere with huge
amounts of money and lots of people
involved who were not quite what they
seemed. It was all like something from a
John Le Carré novel."
Tim, who lives near Chichester, met
Byron while working as a creative writing
teacher at nearby West Dean College.
Byron, a managing director with an
international financial PR consultancy,
actually advised the Luxembourg government
on its communication strategy during
the Mittal takeover deal.
The authors drew on this inside knowledge
and spent two and half months interviewing
more than 65 people before taking
three months writing the book.
Although Byron was involved in the
deal, Tim had no experience of the financial
world but turned his ignorance to his
advantage.
Tim said: "I had never written a business
book in my life but I actually think
that meant I was able to ask idiot questions,
which often reveal the most interesting
answers.
"The firms behind the deal, such as
Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan, do not
normally give interviews but there was a kind of domino effect. It was such a
big deal that the international
lawyers and investment bankers
kept calling it a destination deal' -
meaning there had never been anything
like it before.
"That was probably why they
were willing to talk."
If there are any "heroes" in the
book, they emerge as Mittal and
Dollé, even though the latter stoked
up tensions by using some blatantly
offensive language.
"It did get quite racist," Tim said.
"After Mittal made his offer, Dollé
said he wasn't going to sell to a
company from India who would be
paying in monkey money.
"To be fair, I don't think Dollé is a
racist. His background was as a steel
engineer and he is a brilliant man.
He basically formed Arcelor, which
was made up of state-owned companies
from France, Luxembourg,
Spain and Belgium, by knocking
enough heads together to make it
work.
"I think he said what he said in
shock, because Mittal moved so
quickly."
Whatever the reason for Dollé's
remarks, they were unable to fluster
the self-made steel magnate.
Tim is full of admiration for Mittal,
who was born in Sadulpur, a tiny
town in Rajasthan, north-west
India, and who only three decades
ago was paying himself just $250 a
month.
He said: "Mittal is extremely courteous,
has almost a photographic
memory, is patient and extremely
unsentimental.
"Like a lot of very successful people
his vision was very simple, very
logical and he did not deviate from
it.
"Traditionally steel has been a
fragmented industry, made up of a
large number of mainly government-
owned companies.
"Mittal came along and changed
all that by buying up companies on
the cheap and turning them into
profit really quickly.
"While Arcelor and former
French president Jacques Chirac
were ranting about what he was
doing, he was making friends with a
French billionaire called François
Pinault, who owns Gucci, and getting
him to join his board.
"He completely wrong-footed
them in a way that was typical
Mittal."
Tim thoroughly enjoyed writing
the book and said he would be interested
in doing something similar in
the future. The only problem is finding
a similarly fascinating subject.
He said: "It was great fun and
rather surreal meeting all these billionaires
for a period of one's life.
The book is aimed at the business
world but also the general reader
who has an interest in how it
all works.
"We wrote it as a page
turner because that is
what the deal was like.
"If we find another
great story we would
be interested but I
don't think there
will be anything
quite as dramatic."
Cold Steel:
Britain's Richest
Man and the Multi-
Billion-Dollar Battle
for a Global Industry,
is out now, published
by Little, Brown,
priced £20.
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