Brazil's steelmaker CSN offers 8 bln dollars for Britain's Corus

Brazil's major steel and metalwork company Companhia Siderurgica Nacional (CSN) announced on Friday that it offered to acquire Britain's Corus Group by 4.26 billion sterling pounds (8.04 billion U.S. dollars).

According to a CSN statement, the Brazilian company offered 475 pence (8.97 dollars) in cash for each common share of the group. The CSN will compete with India's Tata Steel, which would pay 455 pence (8.58 dollars) for each common share.

The CSN said it intended to finance the acquisition with its currently available resources, as well as with funds provided by a group of banks, including the Barclays Bank PLC, Goldman Sachs Credit Partners LP and BNP Paribas.

The acquisition would generate one of the five largest groups in the steelwork sector, stressed the CSN, which also planned to acquire control over the U.S. steel corporation Wheeling-Pittsburg.

In the Wheeling-Pittsburg case, the CSN was encountering Esmark, a U.S.-headquartered company, which presented a lower offer, but gained support from local union United Steelworkers and Wall Street's advisory firm International Shareholder Services.

The Wheeling-Pittsburg announced on Friday that preliminary results regarding the proposals would be released on Saturday.

Source: Xinhua