L’Oréal’s deal to buy back 8 percent of itself from Nestlé has been a long time coming, with a number of big names involved.
Reportedly among them is a Moroccan-born duo that the investment banking world hasn’t heard from in a while: Michael and Yoël Zaoui, the brothers who once were rivals, one at Morgan Stanley and one at Goldman Sachs.
According to a lengthy profile in the French edition of Vanity Fair, the two advised the Bettencourt-Meyers family, which more than a century ago founded the company that became L’Oréal.
Much of the magazine profile explores the legend that has grown around Michael and Yoël, who rose to fame as the heads of the European merger departments at Morgan Stanley and Goldman, respectively. That sometimes meant they found themselves on opposite sides of the negotiating table.
According to Vanity Fair, Michael â€" whom the magazine describes as having the body of Ben Stiller and the voice of Al Pacino â€" acts more instinctively and is versed in the art of war. (Perhaps fittingly, after putting together a leveraged buyout of Colt, the firearm manufacturer’s executives gave Michael Zaoui an engraved .357 Magnum revolver.)
His younger brother is better known for a surgical mastery of the finer points of deal-making.
The skills of each brother were put to the test when Mittal Steel made a surprising bid for Arcelor, with Yoël advising the determined bidder and Michael working for the target. The two held little back, trading blows in what proved to be a long and bruising battle across a number of countries. Yoël’s side proved victorious.
Still, Michael earned praise from his brother’s client. According to the magazine, Lakshmi Mittal eventually told Morgan Stanley’s chief executive, John J. Mack, “Your guy has cost me a lot of money.â€
How have the two dealt with sometimes competing head-to-head? At the beginning of their careers, the brothers said that they promised not to oppose a takeover the other was working on. But that pact was broken, first by Alcan’s takeover bid for Pechiney and later by the steel makers’ battle.
They both confided in their mother, Violet, who made sure to keep the confidences of both. When Michael asked whether she had seen his sibling, his mother replied simply, “He’s fine.â€
But the brothers also found themselves working together on occasion, such as when they defended the oil company Elf from an unwanted bidder, Total. The two persuaded Elf’s chief executive at the time, Philippe Jaffré, to mount a Pac-Man defense by bidding for Total. Ultimately, Elf agreed to sell itself, a result that the Zaouis say now turned out to be pretty good.
“From the shareholders’ perspective, it was a good deal,†they told the magazine.
Now the two work together in a new firm, Zaoui & Co., with a client list that reportedly includes the fashion house Tom Ford.
“Now, no customer dreads discovering that my brother is in the opposite camp,†Yoël said.
