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Tata Had No Contingency Plan for Rival Corus Offer, Times Says
By Nick Allen
Nov. 18 (Bloomberg) -- Tata Steel Ltd. had no contingency plan in place when Cia. Siderurgica Nacional SA made a rival bid for Corus Group Plc, the Times reported, citing Tata Group Chairman Ratan Tata.
Ratan learned of the new offer during a visit to the Times office in London yesterday and described the bid as ``interesting,'' the paper said. Corus had told Tata that another offer was unlikely, the chairman told the paper, declining to comment on what his company's response would be.
CSN, based in Rio de Janeiro, proposed a 475 pence-a-share offer, 20 pence more than Tata's bid on Oct. 20. Shares of Corus, the U.K.'s biggest steelmaker, closed at 495.5 pence in London, signaling investors expect a higher bid.