UK Takeover Panel close to decision on Corus battle

Our Corporate Bureau
23 January 2007

London: The UK Takeover Panel, which has been holding discussions with Corus, Tata Steel and Brazil's CSN, is believed to be close to finalising the process to decide the acquirer for Anglo- Dutch steel maker Corus, Europe's second largest steel maker

According to reports, the panel could make an announcement this week.

Tata Steel and Brazil's CSN, had made their submissions to the panel earlier. During discussions, the two companies had expressed themselves against certain terms proposed by the takeover panel, which could hamper the selection of the successful acquirer.

Both companies are against certain terms of the process, such as a sealed bidding and a prescribed gap between the two bids in case of an open auction.

The panel had set a deadline of 30 January while ruling in December that an auction process could be started "shortly before" this date if the competitive situation continued.

The panel has said that it would start the auction process only if Tata Steel was keen on raising its bid of 500 pence, which CSN trumped within hours with an enhanced bid of 515 pence.