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Commodity Giant Trafigura Founder, Top Shareholder Claude Dauphin Has Died
In a tragic, if very odd coincidence, a day after we postulated that the real "commodity-trader" risk may not be Glencore after all, but its just as vast, if even more levered competitor, Trafigura, moments ago the privately-held company (with publicly traded bonds), announced that its founder and biggest shareholder, french billionaire Claude Dauphin has died at the age of 64.
From the press release:
It is with great sadness and regret we have to announce that Trafigura’s Founder and Executive Chairman, Claude Dauphin, passed away peacefully in the early hours of this morning in a hospital in Bogota, Colombia after a hard-fought battle with cancer.
Claude Dauphin (64) has been a leading figure in the global commodities trading industry for more than three decades. He founded Trafigura together with five partners in 1993, and as Chairman and CEO built the company into its current position as one of the world’s leading traders of oil, metals and minerals.
“Claude will be greatly missed by his family, friends, and vast network of business partners, as well as by us all,” said Jeremy Weir, CEO Trafigura. “We owe him an enormous debt of gratitude for a career full of achievement and entrepreneurial endeavour and for his energy, inspirational leadership, generosity of spirit, humility and humour.”
Our deepest condolences go to his wife and children.
His bio from the Trafigura website:
Claude Dauphin was a leading figure in the global commodities trading industry for more than three decades, leading Trafigura from its foundation in 1993 to its current status as one of the world’s largest independent traders of oil, metals and minerals. He was a man of formidable drive, with a vision for the role physical trade could play in boosting global economic growth and the energy and capacity for hard work to implement it.
Born in Houlgate, Normandy on 10th June 1951, Dauphin left school at the age of 16, initially to work in his family’s recycling business, Guy Dauphin Environment, based in Caen. A few years later he moved to Paris to work for a brokerage company specialised in trading non?ferrous metals.
In 1977 he joined the global commodities trading firm Marc Rich AG as Country Manager for Bolivia based in La Paz, and was subsequently promoted to Head of Lead and Zinc Trading. In 1988 he joined Marc Rich’s Executive Committee as Head of the Petroleum Division.
In June 1992 Dauphin resigned from Marc Rich and the following March founded Trafigura with five partners. To start with it was a small company, albeit with an experienced management team. It focused on niche business, principally in Latin America. It was a propitious time to start out as commodity prices were low and resource industries in the region were being privatised. The resulting new players needed logistical and marketing services which Trafigura was well positioned to provide.
The company’s breakthrough happened in the early 2000s with the advent of greater price volatility in commodities markets. This enabled Trafigura to broaden its focus in risk management and the balancing of global commodities supply and demand. The growth in commodities demand fuelled by rapid industrialisation in China and other emerging markets was a major driver of growth over the next 15 years.
Dauphin also pioneered from the early days Trafigura’s strategy of investing in fixed assets and infrastructure in support of trade. One of its earliest acquisitions in 1993 was a small metals warehousing company in Peru; a few years later Trafigura began investing in mid? and downstream oil assets under the name of Puma Energy.
These developments are cornerstones of what Trafigura has become today: one of the leading independent traders of oil, metals and minerals, with trading at its core and industrial and infrastructure investments to support its access to trade flows.
As Chairman and CEO, Dauphin drove growth throughout these years with entrepreneurial ambition, a hands?on management style, and fierce attention to detail. He commanded terrific loyalty from staff and created a uniquely collegial corporate culture, built around employee ownership.
In 2014, he was diagnosed with cancer and as well as embarking on a programme of treatment formalised a succession plan in which he became Executive Chairman and Jeremy Weir was appointed CEO. His capacity for hard work and energy were undiminished by his illness.
Dauphin is survived by his wife and three children.
And some more on the highly secretive Dauphin from the Telegraph:
Little is known about Mr Dauphin, except that he was previously a senior trader for secretive commodities firm Marc Rich & Co, which later became Switzerland-based Glencore.
However, Mr Dauphin hit the headlines in 2006 when he was arrested with four colleagues and spent five months in jail in Ivory Coast on charges related to the toxic waste. He was later released and the authorities dropped all allegations of wrongdoing. In a statement, Mr Dauphin described it as “a terrible ordeal... [to spend] five months in jail as innocent men”.
The oil trader settled out of court over the toxic waste last September by giving 31,000 Ivory Coast residents £30m, without admitting any liability for the “slops” that ended up in their country in 2006.
Our condolences go to his friends and family, even as our eyes are following the impact of this news on Trafigura's bonds.
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Just like that, gone.
Glue gun? ;-)
Looney
Jack Ruby cancer gun...
Higgins? Is that you???
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/e4/3a/0a/e43a0a0a4c37083c8323fca307d7b987.jpg
He couldn't afford to live a little longer?
A billionaire died? I'll light a candle on my cupcake. Let's hope he was contagious
Inspector Jacques Clouseau: There is a time to laugh and a time not to laugh, and this is not one of them.
Good point TD.
Just a week ago when WB shared with us his loss much respect was shown in heartfelt ways.
And even though I may be on a few billionaire's radar screens in over the top ways, pot shots / cheap shots on someone's demise is in poor taste even for one of them.
I thought it said 'Comedy Giant' and I thought "That guy doesn't look anything like Bob Hope."
@NoDebt
That was pretty fuckin' funny
He enjoying his new identity in the bahamas with Ken Lay?
Yeah, having three way circle jerks with Dubya, while naked midgets peel grapes for them and James Earl Jones speaks the lyrics to 'Stairway to Heaven'...
That's not the mysterious question here. How many times have we read how the uber rich could extend their lives by buying organs, going to special clinics, blah, blah, blah and this guy couldn't find medical solutions to extend his life beyond 64? Are you shitting me? We'll never know the truth on this one. My bet is suicide, which means he probably wasn't a "billionaire" anymore.
Those nail guns are contagious I tell ya
Most common practice is unneeded blood transfusions from young donors. Also low intensity chemo, Vitamin B-17 and the use of anti-Neo-Plastons from a clinic in Texas that has been ordered by the FDA to only operate in Texas under the authority of the "interstate commerce clause". the anti-neo-plastons is probably the best documented alternative cancer treatment in modern times. https://youtu.be/rBUGVkmmwbk
Cancer can become so widespread that no matter how much money you have or how many doctors and treatments are available or whether your underlying character was benevolent and well meaning that it can eventually be just too much for a body to handle.
Steve Jobs fought that battle long and hard doing what he could.
Maybe he was trying out the "experimental" care in Bogota, Columbia. Bogota doesn't seem like the place to go to for the best health care that money can buy.
Endless supply of peasant donor organs?
Just sayin.
If one is looking to nurse his terminal cancer away with Chicas and Cocaine... it is -the- place to be.
Why waste the rest of your life in a French hospital when you can be in "double masterblaster" paradise - Bogota.
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=double%20master%20blaster
That's quite funny! :)
I heard he had a dinner with David Rockefeller, let cross fingers
Is it too early to draw comparisons to Joe Paterno's cancer and Penn State crumbling?
He dies from cancer. Karma?
"Trafigura is known for its role in the 2006 Ivory Coast toxic waste dump environmental disaster."
NSA? CIA? FED? MOSSAD? IRA?DHS? MI5?
Beulher?
Cheese knife. Trés French!
Clod Dauphin...Chuck Prince...where do they find these guys?
He died peacefully from a pillow over the face.
Didn't even make a sound as he drifted off into eternal slumber.
I like this exit strategy.
just curious, did he take his wealth with him
Wealth? What wealth, ahh you mean paper contracts and digital numbers?
he looks like mr. bean to me
Nailgun found nearby, or did he self suicide with a double-tap to the head?
What guage nail would you use for something like that?
On a long enough time line.................................................
sure is weird timing? nail gun?
"there are no coincidences"
-CIA
His option just expired month end.
Easy now fellows, he left an unrivaled legacy.
Mmmm, I am sure the peeps of the Ivory Coast would agree with you. Hopefully his reward in the next life will be spending eternity in a lake of fire being ass raped by demons with outsized members...
Just when the gig is apparently up he drops dead. Awesome timing. Remember Ken Lay of Enron?? LOL
Another rat leaving the ship.
64 is 6 + 4 is 1 and 0
The alpha & the Omega
sry, my 7 year old says that 64 is actually 60 + 4 which equals 64, not 10.
Apparently neither you nor your 7 year old have heard of numerology. Look it up and make another smart comment. Christine Legarde might be able to give you pointers.
Well, you and your science definitely have outclassed my 7 year old. You should give yourself a pat on the back for being so smart.
Cancer strikes fast, fast like a nail gun!
Funny upon numerous implosions these folks die.
Bogota...cancer.
Smells.
Seems perfectly normal that a billionaire with cancer would die in Bogota. Perfectly, normal.
Edit: My comment was in poor taste. Redacted.
Has cancer and goes to Bogota to be treated? French billionaire (stay out of France) dies in Columbia S/A.
What's been happening in Columbia?
My wife died of cancer 18 months ago, after two months of home hospice care at the end - mostly me and my daughter. Rich folks that are told they are done by their establishment medical people often seek 'alternative' care in central and South America, which works exactly as well as hospice home care - i.e. it does not buy you any extra time, much less a 'cure'.
Ladies, gentlemen: cancer is a bitch. Sometimes it grinds exceedingly slowly (my wife fought her NHL for 12 years), but it does grind exceedingly fine. Even billionaires can't always escape. I wish him well in his early retirement.
My condolences to you. It's emotionally depleting to daily see a loved one weaken. You are right about people going south of the border for alternative care which never works. It costs a lot of money and doesn't add a day to one's life.
I read that Tommy Chong's prostate cancer (Cheech and Chong) has spread. He's using Simpson Oil (marijuana oil) to treat himself. I doubt that will do anything but good luck Tommy and thanks for all the laughs. He'll be at HempFest in Vegas on 10/3.
The only sane comment in the bloc. +1. Claude was in hospice. All that needs to be said.
Plenty of Traffies/Mercs on ZH, so it is what it is.
Natural causes or "home improvements"...?
/s
They will "bury" him at his secret ranch, where he will live to a ripe old age of 90...
/S
THIS SMELLS LIKE THE EXOTIC FRAGRANCE OF "KEN LAY
' FROM ENRON - WHO JUST "DIED" AFTER HE WAS CONVICTED...
AND WHO HAPPENS TO APPEAR IN "GHOST" FROM ON THE BUSH COMPOUND AT PARAGUAY.
BOGOTA - FOR CANCER?? A BILLIONAIRE? BULLSHIT!!!
HIS COMPANY IS COLLAPSING AND HE "DIES" WHILE THE GETTIN IS GOOD, ONLY TO REAPPEAR ON HIS COMPOUND IN COLOMBIA - IN GHOST FORM OF COURSE!
Yep. I wish I could afford to "die" like that.
I get it yea. Hiding out with elChapo.
Je suis une entrée Elizabeth!
channeling his inner Fred Sanford right before he expired.
wait, why is the announcement dated "30st of June 2015" on Trafi's site ?
Good catch. Prepared in advance and held for embargo until the deed was done.
The next 20 years are going to be great for the next generation. Million of spoiled rotten baby boomers will meet their maker.
And their twice-rotted, stinky offspring will expire, die, pass away and be forgotten only a few years later.
One of those, are you, bm ... ?
Another sack-headed twit with a fuck name, poor attitude, and only a glimmer of soul or intelligence - supplied by a culture of mostly absent male adults and helicopter mothers. ZH ratio of twits vs an informative, concise statement has fallen drastically as of late. On a long enough timeline ... perhaps that's sufficient condolence. Sigh -
You people with no regard for life disgust me or maybe you are merely seeking attention. Frankly, I hope it is the latter.
Who reared you? My bet is a snake.
At least we had a maker and were not scraped off of a crack whores ankle and grown in a petri dish...have an *awesome* day!
died peacefully in a hospital?
Huh... didn't know they made fully supressed nail guns.
Too bad it didn't happen sooner
https://www.google.com/search?q=ivory+coast+toxic+waste+dumping&safe=active&rls=com.microsoft:en-US:IE-SearchBox&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0CEcQsARqFQoTCPLqsbKPn8gCFUWNDQodoCoO-A&biw=1600&bih=800#imgrc=_
No words. :-(
I am starting to believe that humanity deserves what it has coming.
Not all of them but the vagaries en vogue today will just as surely kill their lives as well.
Unfortunate, collateral damage I suppose. I know folks who do not deserve to die. There are good people in America as well as the world.
and just like that, he has been "disappeared"
So what happens next... cash and phys is king?
SHMITAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!
He asked for physical from LBMA and COMEX.
Must have been friends of the Clintons.
Maybe not the Clintons but he knew this guy.
Marc Rich (born Marcell David Reich; December 18, 1934 – June 26, 2013) was an international commodities trader, hedge fund manager, financier and businessman.[1] He was best known for founding the commodities company Glencore and for being indicted in the United States on federal charges of tax evasion and illegally making oil deals with Iran during the Iran hostage crisis. He was in Switzerland at the time of the indictment and never returned to the United States.[2] He received a controversial presidential pardon from U.S. President Bill Clinton on January 20, 2001, Clinton's last day in office.[3]
and billy nailed mrs. rich/reich over a period of @ 1 & 1/2 years.
stay classy, clintons.
And then there's Donna Shalala (President of the Clinton Foundation)...had a stroke yesterday (just like that..."I can't recall")
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/01/us/donna-shalala-president-of-clinton-...
Bill and Hill still got the touch!
Claude Dauphin was found naked, chained to a chair, his hands were bound to his ankles with both wrists slit. Authorities are calling this a Suicide.
How many of you think that you can become a billionaire without beeing a criminel?
plenty of people have founded good companies that do things and have made lots. Anyone involved in finance in the last 3 decade is basically about equivalent to being nazis...just willful part of mass conspiracy. Private Profit and Social Losses... It is time for a cleanup
Is "Vince Fostered" still a verb?
Cancer again? Have Blankfein, Dimon and Dauphin been at each other. Dirty bastards!
No this is another bullshit cover up. This guy is on his luxury island wanking two lady boys in tandem as I type.
Get the rope and a dingy.
So... little is known, incredibly secretive, death announced as company he founded implodes.
I know y'all are thinking he was suicided, but if there was ever a time and place and setup for someone to fake their death, this would be it.
I guess having your soul rot from the inside is a problem. Just another crook
The media was told to lie to you gullible fucks...
The truth is: I fucked the Dauphin to death, then covered my short on Trafigura.
I't was like taking candy from a baby.
Hmm, I better check to see if I'm pregnant...
The Source.
Condolences to the thousands of innocent people who suffered at the hands of of this miserable asshole. One less prick among the rich boys club.
http://www.redicecreations.com/article.php?id=4967
Next!
Paging Mr. Blankfein?
Paging Mr. Blankfein?
A hospital bed in a cancer treatment ward has just opened up in Bogota Columbia, Mr. Blankfein.
another one bite's the dust
and
another one bite's the dust
and
another
moar
moar
moar another one
bite's the dust
A billionaire going to Colombia for cancer treatment????