The sovereign risk of the day was high: both the Bardi and the Peruzzi houses were felled when England's King Edward III defaulted.

ECONOMIST: Millennium issue: Banking

By adding more production in North America (AmeriSteel has production capacity of 1.8 million metric tons of crude steel annually), notes Peruzzi, Gerdau now has more stable, dollar-based revenues and earnings.

FORBES: Keeping It In The Family

Mr. Peruzzi, the Detroit driver and a member of the Teamsters, says he wants the unions to work with the company because he fears what will happen if there is a standoff.

WSJ: Twinkie Maker Hostess Brands, Unions Face Off Over New Batch of Cuts

Though the scale of its network was not new the Bardi and the Peruzzi, the great Italian banking houses of the early 14th century, had more branches and probably more power the Medici bank was the most international of its time.

ECONOMIST: Millennium issue: Banking