LONDON: Anglo-Dutch steelmaker Corus on Monday postponed the EGM of its shareholders and the court meeting, scheduled for December 4 to decide on Tata Steel's offer, till December 20 to give "additional time" to Brazilian firm CSN.
"The Board of Corus has decided it is in the best interests of Corus shareholders to allow CSN some additional time to satisfy its pre-conditions and to determine whether it will put forward a formal offer," Corus informed London Stock Exchange on Monday.
CSN had approached Corus Board on November 17, with a proposal of 475 pence per share in cash to acquire the London-based steel company. CSN is in the process of studying the books of Corus to enable it to launch a formal bid.
The Brazilian firm had rivaled Tata Steel's 455 pence a share bid last month, which was recommended by Corus Board.
"Since the CSN announcement, Corus has made due diligence information available to CSN and has also made senior management available to expedite this process with a view to enabling CSN to satisfy its pre-conditions as quickly as possible. However, to date, no formal offer has been received from or announced by CSN," Corus said.
"In light of this, the Board intends to propose resolutions to shareholders at each of the EGM and the Court Meeting convened for 4 December 2006 to adjourn those meetings until 20 December 2006," it said.
CSN had earlier said its formal offer would be subject to certain pre-conditions, which include completion of due-diligence, finalisation of financing arrangements and a recommendation from the Corus Board.
