UK takeover panel considers auctioning Corus

Our Corporate Bureau
18 December 2006

Mumbai: The battle for Anglo-Dutch steelmaker Corus is set to take a new turn with the UK Takeover Panel weighing an intervention option by arranging an auction between the two bidders - Tata Steel and CSN, reports quoting official sources said.

Brazil-based CSN has made a counter offer of 4.9 billion pounds (515 pence per share to Tata Steel's formal bid of 4.7 billion pounds (500 pence per share) for Corus.

Both the bids are being made through a scheme of arrangement that requires court approval and this has prompted the panel to intervene in the battle, the Financial News magazine said in a report.

"We have a situation where there are two buyers and you need some mechanism to decide the winner," the report quoted the Takeover Panel's deputy director-general Anthony Pullinger as saying.

"All parties are continuing their dialogue with the panel, as they have done throughout the process," the report added. The panel may decide on a sealed bids or a standard auction held over a period of days, the report said.

The panel will consult the three parties to decide on an auction date and avoid a drawn-out battle.