Building up a steel empire

1950: Born in Sadulpur, India. Educated at Xavier’s College, Kolkata

1969: Starts work for a Kolkata-based steel company established by his father

1975: Decides to build a plant on land in Indonesia owned by his father, reversing a plan to sell the land

1989: Wins a contract to manage a government -owned steel company in Trinidad and Tobago which he later buys outright

1992: Acquires Sibalsa steel plant in Mexico

1994: Buys Sidbec-Dosco, a steel plant in Canada, from the Canadian government

1995: Purchases Hamburger Stahlwerke steel company in Germany and the Karmet mill in Kazakhstan. Formally separates his own non-India steel operations from the India-based steel company run by his father and two brothers

1997: Separates part of steel operations into Ispat International, a public company, with other activities continuing to be run as part of LNM, a private group

1998: Acquires Inland Steel in the US for $1.4bn, in a move that makes Ispat the eighth biggest steel company in the world

2001: Buys Sidex from the Romanian government. Involved n a “cash for favours” row as a result of donating £125,000 to the UK Labour party, at about the time when Tony Blair writes to the Romanian prime minister supporting the deal. Mr Mittal denies any link between the two events

2002: Moves into South Africa with an “assistance agreement” with South African steel maker Iscor, which Mr Mittal later buys

2003: Acquires Nova Hut steelmaker in the Czech Republic

2004: Buys Polski Huty Stali in Poland. Merges his private and public steel businesses with International Steel Group in the US to form the world’s biggest steel producer in the shape of Mittal Steel . Decides on $100m investment in a new plant in China. Organises six-day party in Paris to celebrate daughter’s wedding.

2005: Buys Kryvorizhstal steel plant in Ukraine for $4.8bn. Takes minority stake in Chinese steel company Hunan Valin to gain a bigger foothold in China. Announced $9bn steel investment in India

2006: Pushes through E26.9bn takeover of Arcelor after five-month battle. The deal creates Arcelor Mittal in which Mr Mittal has a 45 per cent stake and is chief executive. Spends $1.4bn on buying Sicartsa, a Mexican steelmaker