Claude Dauphin (businessman)
Claude Dauphin | |
|---|---|
| Born | 10 June 1951 Houlgate, Normandy, France |
| Died | 30 September 2015 (aged 64) Bogotá, Colombia |
| Occupation(s) | Entrepreneur, executive chairman |
| Known for | Co-founder and former CEO of Trafigura Beheer BV |
Claude Dauphin (10 June 1951 – 30 September 2015) was a French billionaire entrepreneur who served as executive chairman of Trafigura Beheer BV, a prominent commodity trading enterprise focusing on oil, metals, and ores. As a co-founder and former CEO, he was instrumental in broadening the company's international footprint. In March 2013, Forbes valued his net worth at approximately $1 billion. Dauphin passed away at age 64 from lung cancer in a hospital located in Bogotá, Colombia.
Early life
Dauphin was born in Houlgate, Normandy, and left formal education at the age of 16 to join his father’s scrap metal business in Rocquancourt. Subsequently, he relocated to Paris where he began working with Brandeis Goldschmidt, a brokerage firm operating on the London Metal Exchange. There, he traded ferro-alloys, gaining foundational experience that influenced his future in commodity markets.
Career
In 1977, Dauphin encountered Felix Posen, the non-ferrous trading head at Marc Rich + Co., who appointed him as country manager in La Paz, Bolivia. His career path then took him to New York and Zug, Switzerland, where he led zinc and lead trading operations before being promoted to the executive committee in 1988 as head of petroleum trading based in London.
After the legal controversies surrounding Marc Rich and his indictments in the United States, Dauphin departed the company in 1992 following his father’s passing. He assumed control of the family business, rebranding it as Ecore and transforming it into a global waste management enterprise, maintaining involvement throughout his life.
In early 1993, Dauphin allied with five former Marc Rich colleagues who had formed Glencore. That March, he purchased the Dutch shell company Trafigura Beheer B.V., founding a competing commodities trading firm. Trafigura rapidly developed a lucrative oil trading portfolio and secured contracts in Argentina, establishing itself as a major supplier of raw materials to China and rising to become the world’s third-largest oil trader.
By 2000, Trafigura expanded by acquiring Puma Energy, a midstream and downstream operator in Latin America. By 2014, Puma was active across 45 countries with revenues totaling $13.4 billion. Trafigura brought Sonangol on board as a 30% stakeholder while reducing its own ownership to 49%.
Dauphin opted to keep Trafigura privately held, convinced this was the best structure for a commodities trading business. Between 2005 and 2014, Trafigura’s revenues increased tenfold to reach $127 billion.
Dauphin oversaw Trafigura’s handling of the 2006 toxic waste crisis in Ivory Coast. After local contractors illegally dumped 500 tonnes of hazardous waste near Abidjan’s port area, Dauphin and four associates were arrested and detained for five months on charges related to dumping. While Trafigura denied liability, the company agreed to pay $198 million to secure their release in February 2007; subsequent charges were dropped.
Despite being diagnosed with cancer in 2014, Dauphin maintained an active workload until his passing. He designated Jeremy Weir, formerly risk manager, as CEO but continued key business engagements himself—such as negotiating an oil swaps deal in Nigeria and ensuring Trafigura’s supply of refined products remained stable in Angola.
Personal life
In July 1976, Dauphin married Catherine in Caen, France. The couple had three children: Aurélie, Guillaume, and Charlotte.
He died on 30 September 2015 while on a business trip at a hospital in Bogota, Colombia. He left behind his wife, three children, five grandchildren—Maya, Alexander, Farah, Sebastian, and Victoria—and other relatives.
Renowned for his rigorous and disciplined leadership style, Dauphin continued his family’s metals recycling enterprise after his father’s death. A private figure by nature, he communicated with lenders and bondholders mainly through annual reports and seldom spoke publicly; his only public address occurred when receiving the Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur from French President Jacques Chirac in 2001.
Dauphin also contributed actively to philanthropic initiatives via the Trafigura Foundation.