‘Tata may revise offer for Corus’
Tata Steel Ltd. may revise its offer for Anglo-Dutch steelmaker Corus Group Plc. after Brazil’s Companhia Siderurgica Nacional (CSN) topped Tata’s bid, newspapers said on Saturday.
CSN, which made a failed bid for Corus in 2002, said late on Friday it had approached Corus’ board with a proposal to pay 475 pence per share in cash, more than Tata’s 455p agreed offer.
The offer was subject to due diligence and CSN had not yet made a firm bid, CSN said.
A Tata Steel spokesman declined to say whether the company would make a counter offer, saying: "We do not wish to comment at this point in time."
But Indian business dailies speculated it would revise its bid.
A leading business daily said it might make an improved offer next week, quoting sources close to the development.
Another economic daily said Tata Steel would have to match CSN’s offer and "cannot be seen walking away from the deal after coming close to it".
"The development means they (Tata) now have to gird themselves for a long and bitter battle," the paper said, calling it "two Davids fighting over one Goliath."
Tata Steel won approval from Corus on Oct. 20 for its offer to create the world’s fifth-largest steelmaker. Corus agreed to Tata’s offer after spending a year looking for a strategic partner in Brazil, Russia and India.
Analysts said at the time Tata Steel may have to raise the offer by 10 percent or so in the event of counter bids.
A successful bid would have been India’s largest-ever foreign takeover.
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