COLD STEEL

COLD STEEL ABOUT THE AUTHORS Tim Bouquet is an author, journalist, writer, editor, broadcaster and consultant with extensive experience of editing and writing for leading national and international newspapers and magazines. He writes for The Daily Telegraph Magazine, The Times Magazine, Esquire, Prospect, Irish Times, SAGA magazine and Readers Digest. He also works as an editorial consultant for major multinational companies. Byron Ousey's is a managing director with Kreab Gavin Anderson, an international financial public relations consultancy that specialises in advising governments and major corporations on takeovers and mergers as well as crisis management. During the Mittal-Arcelor battle he advised the Luxembourg government on their communications strategy. Tim Bouquet and Byron Ousey discovered they had a common interest. Tim Bouquet was hoping to be the first feature writer to profile Lakshmi Niwas Mittal, for an article for the Telegraph Magazine. Byron Ousey happened to have a birds-eye view of the takeover battle raging in Luxembourg. He was advising the Luxembourg government, which was the biggest shareholder in Mittals target, Arcelor, on its communication strategy, but was not directly involved with either Arcelor or Mittal Steel. Together they are admirably qualified to guide us through the myriad twist and turns of this compelling business saga and have produced and enormously entertaining read Christopher Silvester INTRODUCTION AND SUMMARY This book is an eminently readable and absorbing account of the behind the scene drama of the takeover battle waged by Lakshmi Niwas Mittal against the management of Arcelor in his bid to emerge as the Emperor of Steel. This book is not written by an insider but as we go through the book its clear that the authors have extensively interviewed most of the insiders. As we go through the book we will also realizes the amount of research the authors have given into it. This book is written in a thriller novel style and everything that is said to be actually happened. It is a book that captures your attention till end. The language used in this book is also easy to understand.

This book starts with Mittal Steels successful bidding for Ukrainian steel company Kryvorizstal in 2004. Arcelor and Mittal Steel both were in the race and Mittal won the bid with an amount of $4.84 billion. Initial Chapters of the book make clear the race between Mittal Steel and Arcelor and tells people how important and intense is race for each one of us. The starting of the book also mention about the egos of Arcelor CEO Guy Dolle and Mittal Steels Lakshmi Mittal, their aspiration and how seriously both of them taking their battle. After this, the book take us back to June 1950 to a place called Sadulpur in Rajasthan in India. From here the authors describe the history of Lakshmi Mittal. That is from going to school, moving to Calcutta, going to St. Xaviers college, getting into family business, getting married with Usha Dalmia, moving to EastJava in 1975, building a steel plant from the scratch. Mittal gained a degree in business and accounting from St. Xaviers college and went into the family business. He is the first Indian to build a Steel mill abroad, i.e. in Indonesia. At the age of 29 a new member was added to the family, i.e. Lakshmis son (Aditya) was born. 1989 was the year when Mittal Knew he hadnt got enough time in front of him and the time where he started to build more plants from scratch. He started acquiring loss making steel manufacturing entities and was able to turn them around completely. Over the next 20 years, Mittal acquire steel manufacturing plants in Trinidad, Mexico, Canada, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, and the United States. From the point Mittals growth has started and it has been perfected over the years. The entire history of Lakshmi MIttal is traced back from his birth to current stage. After the history of Lakshmi Mittal it takes back to the current event of Arcelor. Then the authors start describing the struggle between Arcelor and Mittal Steel. It also mentions about how Arcelor CEO Guy Dolle created a special secret team know as Project tiger, in order to defend them from the attack of Mittal. The code name for Lakshmi Mittal was Mr. Moon and for his Aditya was Adam. As per the defence plan the Arcelor acquire a steel company in USA, but it couldnt help Arcelor from the attack Mittal Steels. The authors have described in detail about the strategy and the well oiled operation put by Mittal Steel.

Mittal told Blankfein, president and chief operating officer of the Goldman Sachs Group, one of the largest global investment banks to explore strategic option and analyse the feasibility of acquiring Arcelor. This was Mittals first business with Goldman Sachs Group but he already had a good relation with Blankfein. They have mention in detail how the whole strategy was made, the amount of planning and discussion that went into the takeover strategy, the scores of issues that were identified by the team of investment bankers and lawyers, and how the obstacles were overcome. They also mention in detail about the various defense strategies used by Arcelor. That is how they tried to find out a white knight and in the end found one in SeverStal of Russia, the various poison pills, a special protectionist takeover law put on table by Luxembourg govt. but which was never passed, the political charm offensive of Lakshmi Mittal and how in the end every single defence strategy that was put in place by Arcelor failed and the only option left with was the White Knight in SeverStal. Perseverance, discipline, business acumen, patience, might, aggression call anything and you will find it here in fiercest hostile takeover in the history of global steel industry. The book is an interesting and captivating read which will take you by surprise when you may come to know that phone calls are prone to being tapped when you are in the game of hostile takeover. The deal also involved political figures like prime minister, president, and finance minister not only of France but also of India. The meetings were held in the wildest destination from graveyard to airport lounge or on an isolated island which is beyond the reach of media. Moreover, call it Project Olympus or Project Louise or Project Tiger, all of them are associated to Arcelor. These were the names assigned by Mittals team, Arcelor Team and the French government to save Arcelor from Mittals takeover. While Guy Dolle, Ex CEO Arcelor was determined not to lose Arcelor to Mittals, Lakshmi Niwas Mittal was determined to put on stake anything for Arcelor to become the biggest steel producer in the world. However, reluctant might Guy had been but somewhere down his heart he was aware that Mittal was better match than SeverStal who played the role of White Knight for Arcelor. The authors also mention about the India Governments reaction to the protectionist approach taken by French and Luxembourg Government. There was a situation where Arcelor CEO Guy Dolle made an unfortunate comment about Mittal being an Indian and suddenly the Europeans were accused of being racist. This spark that could have potentially resulted in

damaging the diplomatic relation was put out early. I really admire the way LNM agreed to keep Luxembourg as the headquarters for the new company formed after merging with Arcelor. Not only this, he agreed to dilute the stake in Mittal steels to avoid corporate governance issues and also invited Guy Dolle on board who put down his offer. It also put an end to racist remarks put on by Guy on Mittal and his offer referred to as monnaine de singe literally means monkey money. It also means funny money (tainted money) or Monopoly money (ridiculously large bot worthless sums). Mittals vision, one he kept on repeating throughout the battle for Arcelor was that state run steel companies had no place in the modern world. Steel would have to go global. According to the authors the reason Mittal was so successful in turning around loss making manufacturing units was that he was the only person who could actually work the control panel of a blast furnace himself. He knew his business inside out. Lakshmi Mittal was a man with a vision and man on a mission. He was supported by his able and intelligent son and CEO Aditya Mittal. Aditya played an important role in this takeover battle and he interacted with many key players. Everyone reported him as very intelligent and smart. This is a book that tells the story of the Arcelor Mittal Steel takeover battle that resulted in ArcelorMittal. It ranged for about 188 days which is the biggest takeover battle. The takeover made such an impression on the steel industry that the mightiest steel producers in the world like Nippon Steel and POSCO employed finance consultants and advisors to design a defense mechanism to protect their company from relentless consolidation drive by the rajah of steel industry Lakshmi Niwas Mittal. Cold Steel is a truly international thriller played at pace and mirroring the impact of globalisation on one of the world's least known but most important industries. Unlike some books which are merely 'based on fact', this is all true and the outcome of the battle was to transform the landscape of the steel industry and bring a much needed victory for shareholder democracy in mainland Europe. It is written as a thriller because that is what it was. Cold Steel is a story of mounting jeopardy starring an international cast, many of them with exotic names and backgrounds. They all had motive and opportunity and were in the right places at the right and the wrong times. Some also got very rich in the process. In addition, the story is

not without a touch of the fantasy, the illogical and the unexpected juxtapositions that are the true hallmarks of Surrealism. Any person who just wants to know what happened would be amazed to see the amount of strategy and effort put in by all the people at both sides the bankers, the lawyers, the communications and PR people, the strategists, the government representatives, the hedge funds people, the investors, the shareholders, the stakeholders and scores of others. It is very important moment is the history of Steel industry. As for Lakshmi Mittal his story is far from over. Although he is now the biggest steel producer in the world, he still only has 10 per cent. His next goal is to be the first entrepreneur to produce 200 million tons a year.