Who is the winner?

Though I did not very minutely follow the Mittal and Arcelor marriage (that's what we could call that episode now rather than a showdown), I could not stay away from observing some true negotiation happening under the veil of politics and racism.

The Indian media hailed it as a big win for Mr. Mittal and his company. And of course, it is. First time there will be a true Indians will lead in a particular business. First time, we see an Indian company taking over a giant from the West. Earlier, I was quite depressed to see Lenovo, an essentially Chinese brand, taking over IBM's PC division. Always thought that Indians were not capable of such things.

Well, I was going through the reports and was wondering who is the real winner.

After some pondering over how things have shaped up, it looks to me that the real winner is Arcelor shareholders (the board).

I think Mittal was quite open about his intentions and he articulated it.

Arcelor Board, I believe, has been a great negotiator. And as I said the winner is the Board has quite effectively used the services of Mr. Guy Dolle. By aggressively defending the Mittal bid and almost successfully scuttling the process by bringing in a temporary Russian partner, Mr. Dolle successfully raised the booty for the shareholders.

Maybe, Mr. Mittal did foresee this.

Today, Dolle has resigned and no. 3 at Arcelor is slated to become the CEO of Arcelor-Mittal steel. LNM's son is to become group CFO.

Hope the new entity creates enough for the shareholders going forward.

Well, must say this is the whole case otherwise has been a demonstration that Indian business can become truly global. TCS is a case in point.

I have always wondered how American companies and brands become truly global whereas Indian counterparts remain always local.

Something wrong with us. Maybe, maybe not!