Mittal Steel's stubbornness amidst strong protests from Arcelor and its sympathizing governments from France to Luxembourg to Spain just shows it is not enough to be the globe's no. 1 steel producer. Mittal Steel's production capacity of 63 million tons is tiny compared to the global steel production of 1000 million tons. However, the Mittal-Arcelor combine would not command more than 1/10th of the total global steel production. It means Mittal's hostile bid could just be a precursor to more such hostile attempts in future. However, that may do more good than harm to the much fragmented global steel industry.

On January 13, 2006, when Guy Dolle, the boss of Arcelor, the world's second largest steel producer after Mittal Steel, arrived at LN Mittal's palatial home in London, for a dinner, the distinguished guest had little idea what the global steel's most richest person and his host would be serving him that evening. After a warm reception and exchange of pleasantries, what followed that evening, however, stunned Dolle. Mittal had laid bare his plan for acquiring Arcelor as part of his grand vision of creating a giant steel corporation with a capacity of over 100 million metric tones, which was three times bigger than Japan's Nippon Steel, closest rival of Mittal steel. Dolle's disagreement that evening, however, did not deter Mittal from going ahead with his plan as he publicly announced his bid for Arcelor, two weeks later, much to the chagrin of Dolle and also, the governments of France, Luxembourg, and Spain, where Arcelor's operations are based. Since then, a spat has ensued with Dolle and the Government of Luxembourg, which owns a stake in Arcelor, threatening to thwart the deal.

The duel between the two firms, however, has surprised several industry veterans as the two bigwigs have many things in common. Mittal and Dolle have been friends for a long time and are strong advocates of the belief that consolidating the steel industry is the best way to make it stable. The similarities do not end here; at a personal level, the two also share a liking for the game of football. However, while Mittal is a supporter of the English premier league club Fullham, Dolle seems to have a liking for anything French; he is a fan of the French club AS Nancy and his favorite player is France's Thierry Henry. And the hostile bid seems to have brought to the fore the differences between the two when it comes to running their companies and the realization, on part of Mittal, that good food may not always be the right catalyst to win a man's heart. For Mittal - someone who has grown to become the world's number one steel maker through a staple diet of mergers and acquisitionsthis indeed has been a jolt out of the blue.

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