Albert Frere was bornon 4 February 1926 in Charleroi, Belgium, Belgium. Albert Frere is #288 in List Billionaires People In The World. Albert Frere owns CNP, a media, utilities and oil empire that he built from his family's scrap-metal business. In July 2008 he completed what some say is the greatest coup of his career, helping push through the stalled mega-merger of CNP subsidiary Suez with French utility Gaz de France. The merged company, European energy giant GDF Suez, is one of the largest independent electricity suppliers in the world; Frere remains its vice chairman. Born the son of a nail merchant, he helped with the family business from an early age. His father died when Frere was 17, so he left school and ran the company. At age 30, he started investing in Belgian steel factories and by the end of the 1970s practically controlled the whole steel industry in the region of Charleroi. He expanded into finance, investing through his Pargesa holding company. In Bordeaux, he co-owns Chateau Cheval Blanc with fellow billionaire and LVMH Chairman Bernard Arnault.