interesting. for this white guy, it's ok if the chinese come in and do hostile takeovers. but a british company with an indian at the head, oh no, that's pretty bad. so indians are 'untouchable' still.
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From: Ku
Oh oh...Here's the "how dare a brown man excel" speech!
I'm sure Mr. Mittal anticipated this. If he didn't then he's pretty dim.
3 comments:
Rajeev,
The following is to provide a counter-point.
I do not understand where in the article does Mr. M Lévy says that the deal is bad because it is from an India-based Company. The following excerpt is the only negative statement in the article and it makes perfect business sense to be cautious of a bid based on primarily paper-money not cash.
==== begin quote ===========
"The Publicis chief, said that what would prove crucial would be the interests of Arcelor shareholders. He suggested that they should treat with some scepticism the offer from Mittal, which is 75 per cent paper, and only 25 per cent in cash, given that it has come from a company which M Lévy argued has only a limited track record against which it can be judged."
"I am not sure I would advise the stockholders to accept paper from Mittal," the Frenchman said.
==== end quote ===========
As I recall that the Chinese bid for the American Oil Company was $18bn CASH. Even then, it created a furore and they had to withdraw.
The rest of the article is actually quite neutral and expresses genuine surprize because the commentator has NOT been watching out for India. In that sense, it is a good comment.
==== begin quote ===========
M Lévy said he had been surprised by the move from a group whose origins were in India, even though it is British-based, when he had expected such big interventions from emerging markets, a symptom of globalisation, to emerge first from China.
"I am not saying it is positive or it is negative. But it is the kind of thing that we will see more and more.
"I was a little bit surprised personally because I was expecting this kind of hostile bid but coming from China, rather than India. I thought this would come - but I was expecting it to be more from China."
He added that Mittal’s decision to make a "quite harsh" bid for a rival would be likely to change the way that emerging market countries led by China and India, and their leading companies, were viewed in the West.
"This is not the behaviour of an emergent country," he said. "This is something that is coming from a dominant country, which is saying ‘OK, I want to buy you’. The way this decision is presented is quite harsh … solidly hostile."
He added: "I think it is an Indian deal with a British style."
==== end quote ===========
Business is just that - business. It is cross-country and cross-cultural. I doubt if Mr. Mittal will be as passionate about his business being seen as "Indian"... he might prefer to be seen as British - because it makes more business-sense and caters to his constituency better...and perhaps he is right.
It might be worth re-visiting what this "India" is that you and I are so proud and protective about. It might be worth pondering whether anything "India-related" should be treated as sacred as Ram-janmabhoomi? Getting worked up about Ram-Janmabhoomi I understand, but for a British company with some low-profile India connection - no.
Also, I do not think it is wise to raise the red-flag of "untouchability" anytime a remotely India-related stuff is not spoken of approvingly. Your credibilty takes a hit.
Ofcourse, that is not my problem and you do not have to live up to any image.
Just my 2c.
Regards,
Gopal
This article is worth a read..
"http://www.sulekha.com/blogs/commentdisplay.aspx?cid=4804
The french minister and the board of Arcelor seem to be invoking a strong European culture among other things to reject Mittals bid. I dont think this is a valid arugment. As has already been pointed out in the first comment, western companies do accquire and make lot of money in Asian companies. Govt protectionism and sentimentalism will be detrimental in the long term. Un-comptetive Companies in Germany and France anyway have to cut jobs because of sick economies caused by years of socialist-protectionist policies.
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