Cold Steel

In 2006 the world`s two largest steel producers went head to head in a bitter struggle for market domination, an epic corporate battle that sent shockwaves through the political corridors of Europe, excited the world`s financial markets and transformed the steel industry. Cold Steel is the gripping story of the biggest and most hard-fought industry takeover of recent years. At the heart of the story are two companies and two men dubbed the "Stallions of Steel`. Lakshmi Mittal is a self-made Indian industrialist who grew up walking on the bare floors of a house built by his grandfather and sleeping on rope beds. Today he is the richest man in Great Britain, and the fifth richest man in the world; his London home cost £57 million. He could hardly have been more different from the brilliant and mercurial Frenchman Guy Dolle, CEO of Luxembourg-based Arcelor, the world`s largest steel producer by turnover (some 30 billion euros in 2004). But one ambition united the men: that his company should be pre-eminent. So when Mittal called Dolle to announce that he was about to launch a bid for Arcelor, a dramatic takeover struggle inevitably ensued, involving billions of dollars of finance, secretive government and shareholder manoeuvrings and accusations of double-dealing - all with global consequences. Fast-paced and compelling, Cold Steel brings to life the cut and thrust of big businesses at war with each other - Mittal and Dolle led armies made up of hundreds of the world`s leading investment bankers, takeover lawyers, hedge funds, lobbyists and five maverick billionaires. The authors have enjoyed unprecedented access to all of the major players, making this a true insider account of the takeover that defined an era.