Lakshmi Mittal
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal is the President and Chief Executive Officer of ArcelorMittal, the world's largest steel company and leader in all major global markets[1]. ArcelorMittal is the result of a merger between Arcelor which was at the time the second largerst steel company in the world, and Mittal Steel, in June 2006[2]. Mittal's two sister companies LNM Holdings and ISPAT International were merged in 2004 to form Mittal Steel[3].
In May 2001 Mittal gave £125,000 to the Labour Party, shortly after which Tony Blair backed his bid for a Romanian firm sparking the 2002 Steelgate Row[4]. In 2005 he gave £2 million to the Labour Party, one of the largest donations ever received[5]. His personal fortune is estimated at £19.25 billion and he is ranked the richest man in Britain and the third richest in the world[6]. He is known as a tough businessman who made his money from buying up run-down State-owned companies.
References
- ^Arcellor Mittal 2007 Profile
- ^Arcellor Mittal 2007 History
- ^Arcellor Mittal 2007 History of Mittal Steel
- ^BBC News, 13 July, 2005; Politics; Mittal gives Labour £2m donation
- ^Ibid
- ^BBC News, 13 June, 2007; Sport; Tycoon quiet over Birmingham bid