Tata Steel, which is likely to up its ante by raising its offer once the Corus board indicates its view, seem muted for the moment.
MUMBAI: It was a picture of contrasts as the steelmakers from Brazil and India in contention for the Anglo-Dutch Corus group conducted their day-to-day affairs on Thursday.
Companhia Siderurgica Nacional SA, the Brazilian steelmaker competing with Tata Steel for acquiring Corus Group, was more forthcoming and even met reporters at a press conference in Amsterdam. Its rival, Tata Steel, was more guarded, keeping the strategy up its sleeves as its board deliberated behind closed doors — in a meeting held ostensibly to discuss the CSN’s “approach” to acquire Corus.
“Tata is a nice fit for Corus, but we think that we probably are the best fit,’’ Bloomberg quoted Jose Marcos Treiger, CSN’s head of investor relations as saying at the briefing in Amsterdam on Thursday.
Tata Steel, which many experts consider will up its ante by raising its offer once the Corus board indicates its view, seemed muted for the moment. It all stands to reason, as Tata Steel’s bid is official and formally placed before the Corus board and its shareholders, while CSN is yet to take the next logical step by formalising its bid which until now is just an “approach”.
The Indian steelmaker’s board met on Thursday to strategise after Brazil’s CSN threw its hat in the ring with a counter offer of 475 pence per share for Corus, against 455 pence per share.
Tomorrow the entire top brass of the Tata group are expected to unwind at Phuket, Thailand, on a routine review meet.
A Tata Steel spokesperson declined to comment on Thursday’s meeting.
CSN spokesperson Treiger, on the other hand, said: “We are ready to grow internationally because we need to complement our domestic market.’ There will be a lot of synergies between CSN and Corus.”
Tata Steel in a press conference in London recently also spoke about similar synergies at play for Tata Steel and Corus.
The Indian steel maker’s share price meanwhile softened further, this time marginally by 0.26% to Rs 471.45 from Rs 472.70, indicating a loss of Re 1.25 per share.
Corus Group, the prey eyed by the two predators from India and Brazil respectively and which if acquired by one of them will automatically take them to fifth largest steelmaker in steel making capacity continued to impress at London Stock Exchange. At 6.40pm, IST Corus shares were stable at 506 pence, after hitting an intra-day high of 507.75 pence.
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