NEWSMAKER-CSN's Steinbruch stifled again in bid to go global
By Todd Benson
SAO PAULO, Jan 31 (Reuters) - Ask friends and foes alike to describe Benjamin Steinbruch and chances are the response will be something like "ambitious, extremely ambitious."
But that drive alone was not enough for the chief executive and main owner of Brazilian steelmaker CSN (CSNA3.SA) (SID.N) to finally make a splash on the global stage.
Companhia Siderurgica Nacional (CSN) was outbid on Wednesday by India's Tata Steel Ltd. (TISC.BO) in a high-stakes auction for Anglo-Dutch rival Corus Group CS.L CS.AS.
The showdown with Tata was the second time CSN has flirted unsuccessfully with Corus. It was also the latest setback for Steinbruch, who has made no secret of his desire to turn CSN into a global heavyweight.
In 2002, CSN openly held talks with Corus about a tie-up but ended up backing off because of concerns about the European company's financial health.
Steinbruch set his sights again on Corus last year after CSN lost out to Chicago-based steel services group Esmark in bidding for U.S. steelmaker Wheeling-Pittsburgh Corp. WPSC.O.
But people who have worked with Steinbruch, who at just 52 is one of Brazil's best-known corporate executives, say he is likely to keep taking risks to thrust CSN to the next level.
"He's a born risk taker," said one former colleague who spoke on condition of anonymity. "That's how he made CSN into a success story."
Steinbruch is used to success. His father, the son of Syrian immigrants, got his start as a hardscrabble clothing salesman and went on to found Vicunha, which rapidly grew into Brazil's largest textile company.
Steinbruch, who dated top models in his youth and gained a reputation as a playboy, inherited the textile business from his father when Brazil was preparing to auction off several state companies. Armed with the family fortune, he seized the chance to aggressively branch out into other industries.
CSN, founded in 1941 by President Getulio Vargas to jump-start Brazil's industrialization, was on the brink of collapse when the government decided to privatize it in 1993.
Steinbruch and a group of Brazilian investors stepped in and took the reins of the company. Over the next decade, the owners spent more than $4 billion to revamp CSN, increasing output by more than 30 percent to 5.6 million tonnes a year.
Today, CSN is an emerging force in global steel, exporting to more than 50 countries. It is self-sufficient in energy and iron ore and has its own port and railway. And it has some of the lowest production costs in the world.
Steinbruch was also part of the consortium that bought CVRD (VALE5.SA) RIO.N, the world's largest iron ore producer. But regulators later forced him to sell his stake, and since then he has been embroiled in an acrimonious battle with CVRD over sales from CSN's prize asset, the Casa de Pedra iron ore mine.
The Brazilian media has often portrayed the CSN-CVRD dispute as a personal rivalry between Steinbruch and the miner's equally ambitious chief executive, Roger Agnelli. Both are towering figures in Brazil's corporate world, regularly grabbing headlines in major newspapers.
Steinbruch has clashed with other business partners, including Germany's ThyssenKrupp (TKAG.DE), earning him a reputation as a micro-manager who can be tough to work with.
Though he rarely gives interviews, Steinbruch is not shy about opining on domestic and international affairs in his weekly column in Brazil's biggest daily, Folha de S.Paulo.
