During his time forming a brokerage, Lemann met a famous speculator called 'Mendoncinha'. 'Mendoncinha' decided that he would take control of the steelmaker Belgo Mineira (Belgium Mines), a giant of the sector at the time.
Mendoncinha was leveraging more and more and, in the end, in addition to giving Belgo Mineira's own shares as collateral, he gave Bill of Exchange for a financial company and everybody thought that was a good ballast, because if the stock market fell, there would be collateral.According to Lemann, at one point the prices of the assets collapsed, the money of the 'Mendoncinha' ended and everyone with whom the speculator dealt had losses. Also according to the businessman, the bills of exchange given in guarantee were false.
Six months after the 'Mendoncinha' break the stock market recovered and had a strong high. "I was 24 years old and I saw all that. It gave me a good sense of timing. If he had endured, he would probably be the richest man in Brazil. “
The entrepreneur remembers that his financier lost some money but did not do so badly of the operation. How could it be otherwise, he took an apprenticeship out of the situation: "I had a lesson in timing, that is, how important it is to do the right things at the right time.“
Decades later, when buying the Anheuser-Busch, Lemann would remember again that such 'Mendoncinha': "In the purchase were indebted by 54 billion dollars. Several times I thought of him. Is it Mendoncinha of the time or is this business going to work?"
It worked. Anheuser-Busch was acquired by InBev as the world's largest brewery and Lemann continues to search good deals. The 'Mendoncinha' was never seen again.
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