Ok…I read this book in two days flat. It describes in real deep detail about the battle between Arcelor’s Dolle and Mittal Steel’s Lakshmi Nivas Mittal which finally culminated in the merger of the two behemoths to create Arcelor Mittal. I really loved this book for these reasons:

1. The descriptions of how both sides (especially Mittal) played the fourth estate (newspapers, reporters, media, etc.) to put forth their case to the shareholders and governments.

2. The number of hindrances that Mittal faced. Even governments who did not have a stakeholding in the company supported Dolle’s view of opposing the takeover and that clearly worked against Mittal.

3. Sheer fucking perseverance: That’s one of the things that really came out from the book. How Mittal fought against each hurdle that was placed against him (including an attempt to legislate new takeover laws for Luxembourg) was described in incredible detail. How the man refused to give up even when the chips were down.

4. The media can decimate your image: Even though Guy Dolle did his best to get away from the whole monkey money incident, it was twisted out to look racist (even though that was probably the only action that wasn’t so)

5. Get people on your side: How Mittal used the Indian pride and ego to get Indian lawmakers and politicians such as Kamal Nath and Manmohan Singh openly support him is a chapter to devour and digest.

6. The real Aditya Mittal: Till now, I always felt that Aditya got to where he was courtesy his dad. While that might be true, his role in this merger is incredibly more significant than I thought it was. Eventually, it was his responsibility to talk to the board members and convince them of the deal.

7. An in-depth view of how takeover mergers really work: While Barbarians at the Gate described leveraged buyouts in excruciating detail, this gets into the details of both the financial as well as the political motivations involved in hostile takeovers as well as the roles of white knights, white squires and poison pills. While I did learn the theoretical underpinnings of these fundaes during MBA, it really came alive in the book

 

So overall, a pretty decent book, though I have to admit, it wasn’t what I would call an unbiased, balanced account of the takeover. It was pretty heavily stilted towards the Mittal side. With Guy Dolle looking like the villain in the movie. And, they have taken quite a bit of poetic license in their narrative style. But, overall, a definite thumbs-up