Tata Steel wins Corus with $ 12 bln offer

London, Jan 31 (UNI) Tata Steel won the battle to control Anglo-Dutch steel maker Corus with a 6.2 billion pounds (12 billion dollar) offer, after more than eight hours of head-to-head bidding against Companhia Siderurgica Nacional (CSN) of Brazil today.

''Our bid to acquire Corus must be looked at as Tata Steel's sincere efforts to go global in a big way'', Tata Chairman Ratan Tata said after clinching the deal by offering 608 pence per share against CSN's last offer of 603 pence which was in consonence with the Tata Steel's decision to upgrade its production capacity to more than 21 million tonnes per annum through acquisition.

It was nothing but a perfect business decision of the company to spread its wings far beyond the national boundary, Mr Tata said adding that simlarly several foreign multi-nationlas were also making bids to acquire Indian companies to take full advantage of the globalisation of the world economy.

Tata won with a bid of 608 pence a share in cash, against CSN's highest bid of 603 pence a share. The Tata bid valued Corus at about 6.7 billion pounds including debt, said a spokesman for the company far above earlier analysts and market estimates.

The acquisition will be funded by more debt and a cash contribution by Tata Steel, the company said in a statement.

Corus shares closed in London yesterday at 565 pence a share.

The bidding went to the ninth and final round of an unusual auction process introduced by the UK Takeover Panel to ensure the Corus battle was resolved in an orderly and transparent way.

Finance Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram said the take-over reflected the new found confidence of Indian industry. He said the government would be ready to help Tata Steel finalise the deal if any request was made.

Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath also said the acquisition as a sign of India's economic strength. ''The Tata's win reflects India's economic and fundamental strength,'' he added.

One of the insiders described the process as 'tense' towards the end.

The Tata team including the chairman Ratan Tata conducted the bidding from their headquarters in Mumbai through their bankers in London.

Tata and CSN had been fighting over Corus for several months, in an effort to become the world's fifth largest steel producer. The global steel industry has been rapidly consolidating over the past year, and steel makers are under pressure to grow if they are to hive a chance of competing with Arcelor Mittal, the world's largest steel group, created last year through the takeover of Arcelor by Mittal Steel.

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