The Observer newspaper today ran an interesting profile of Mr. Lakshmi Mittal, which did a good job of communicating his motivation and vision for his modern, high-growth global company.

The profile also explains just how ambitious the current proposed takeover of rival firm Arcelor really is:

"There's certainly plenty of support for Mittal's view that the merger makes sense. He is undoubtedly a brilliant businessman, one who understands the nooks, crannies and fluctuations of a fragmented industry. He spots value, acquires companies at good prices, sometimes direct from national governments, and then makes them work better."

"But the size of the deal and its political backdrop make business logic no more than a subplot in a Tartuffian farce of global industrial intrigue. 'Mittal's gone from the back pages of the national press to the back pages of the international press, to the front pages of just about every leading newspaper in the world. This is the sexiest M&A deal of all time,' says one industry observer. 'It's not just size, it's also about innovation. The only thing to rival it would be AOL and Time-Warner. It's a positive deal by a UK-managed company and it adds a new dimension to the world of finance.'"

Let's hope that some of this innovation and entrepreneurial spirit rubs off on the Bosnian economy!