COLD STEEL

In 2006 the worlds 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 worlds 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 worlds 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 worlds 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.