Claude Dauphin (businessman)
| Claude Dauphin | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1951 Houlgate, France |
| Died | (aged 64) Bogotá, Colombia |
| Nationality | French |
| Occupation | Executive chairman of Trafigura Beheer BV |
| Known for | Billionaire commodities trader |
Claude Dauphin (10 June 1951 –30 September 2015) was a French billionaire businessman, and executive chairman of Trafigura Beheer BV, a company specialising in commodity trading (oil, metals, ores). He had previously served as Trafigura's chairman and CEO.[1] In March 2013 his net wealth was estimated at $1 billion by Forbes.[2] He died from cancer in the early hours of September 30, 2015 in a hospital in Bogota, Colombia. [3][4]
Early life[edit]
Dauphin was born to french parentage at Houlgate, Normandy. He left school aged 16 to work at his father's scrap metal business at Caen. He moved to Paris to join a metal trading business in early 1970s. He joined Marc Rich & Co in 1977 as a country manager of metals for Bolivia - Rich was an exporter of lead, zinc, copper, and precious metals based in La Paz.
Career[edit]
Dauphin worked for nearly 22 years as an oil executive at Victoria Trading Services (UK) Ltd. In 1990, at the age of 39, he assumed his first directorship.[5] The following year he became a director at A.O.I. (UK) Ltd. He moved to Marc Rich & Co. (now Glencore) from 1991 to 1992.[5] In 1993 Dauphin and several other senior traders at Marc Rich founded Trafigura.[2]
Dauphin built his fortune at Rich by spot trading petroleum prices. The company's founder, marc Rich was living in Switzerland as a fugitive from The FBI and US Justice department on fraud charges. Dauphin did many dubious deals with the Ayatollah of Iran on oil contracts. He also sold oil to several sanctioned regimes, such as apartheid South Africa, Ceaucescu's brutal regime in Romania, and the Chilean dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet. Having begun his career as a metals trader, he became head of the oil department from 1988. Embroiled in a messy divorce, Dauphin decided to set up his own company with some friends, calling it Trafigura. A niche metals business in the emerging markets of Latin America, rapidlay expanded into a full oil contract basis for trading with China. The Chinese had an insatiable demand for raw materials.
Trafigura grew to be the third largest oil business in the world with annual profits in excess of $1 billion. Trafigura is known for its role in the 2006 Ivory Coast toxic waste dump environmental disaster. A Panamanian registred waste tanker, Probo Koala, was in 2006 chartered by Trafigura to offload or dump 500 tonnes of toxic waste at Abidjan, Ivory Coast. Although duming went on around the city, Trafigura denied all knowledge of it. Instead of owning up, they dishonestly sued in litigation. Dauphin and four others were arrestd and imprisoned in the city's Maca Prison for five months on charges of dumping toxic waste; afterward they were released and all charges were dropped.[6] While Trafigura denied responsibility and culpability, it paid €1.3 million in an out-of-court settlement.[7] The prison of 4000 inmates had no sanitation in appalling conditions; but Dauphin continued to do business by mobile. Dauphin was known to be a tough, disciplined boss, which continued to recycle metals after his father's death.[8]
Dauphin was known to communicate with lenders and bondholders in the company’s annual report, but not to speak publically.[9] He was married and had three children.[2]
Diagnosed with cancer in 2014, Dauphin worked to a hectic schedule to the end. He died in hospital in Bogota, Colombia, on 30 September 2015, during a business trip.[10]
References[edit]
- ^ Kent, Sarah (24 March 2014). "Commodities Trader Trafigura Reshuffles Senior Management". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 22 April 2014.
- ^ a b c Kroll, Luisa; Dolan, Kerry A. (2013). "Claude Dauphin". Forbes. Retrieved 10 March 2013.
- ^ "Claude Dauphi 1951 – 2015". trafigura.com. trafigura.com. 2015-09-30. Retrieved 2015-09-30.
- ^ "Trafigura founder Claude Dauphin dies". Financial Times. 30 September 2015. Retrieved 30 September 2015.
- ^ a b "Mr Claude Dauphin". Duedil. 2013. Retrieved 10 March 2013.
- ^ Mason, Rowena (4 April 2010). "Publicity-shy Trafigura boss Claude Dauphin may appear in court". Telegraph Media Group. Retrieved 10 March 2013.
- ^ Reuters (17 November 2012). "Trafigura reaches toxic waste settlement with Dutch". Retrieved 10 March 2013.
- ^ The Daily Telegraph, Thursday 8 October 2015, Obituary [paper only], p.31
- ^ Blas, Javier (28 January 2013). "Trafigura boss doubts rally will return". Financial Times. Retrieved 10 March 2013.
- ^ "Trafigura founder Claude Dauphin dies". Financial Times. 30 September 2015. Retrieved 30 September 2015.