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Russia's Severstal eyes British-Dutch steel group Corus - paper

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Russia's leading company Severstal [RTS: CHMF] is interested in acquiring the assets of the British-Dutch steel group Corus, a respected business daily said Tuesday.
MOSCOW, March 6 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's leading company Severstal [RTS: CHMF] is interested in acquiring the assets of the British-Dutch steel group Corus, a respected business daily said Tuesday.

"For several years rumors had circulated the market about a rival take over bid of Corus Group. In October, Corus received a takeover offer from India's Tata Steel, followed by a bid from Brazil's CSN. Many market players believed that an offer could also come from Russia's Severstal, whose owner Alexei Mordashov has long had plans to transform the company into a global metals business," Vedomosti said.

In January, Tata Steel won the bid to purchase Corus Group, after it offered about $12 billion for the steel producer.

The British paper The Business recently said sources had revealed that Severstal made an offer to Tata Steel to purchase Scunthorpe, one of Corus' steel plants, for $1.9 billion. Tata Steel denied this, but two sources close to Severstal confirmed to Vedomosti that the Russian steel producer is interested in several of Corus' steel plants, including Scunthorpe, the paper said.

Both Vedomosti's sources said Severstal had not made an offer and is not currently holding negotiations with the Indian company on the issue, although it did hold consultations with Tata Steel and CSN on possible asset purchases during their rival bid for Corus.

The press offices of Severstal and Corus Group declined to comment on this issue Monday and the London office of Tata Steel did not respond to Vedomosti's inquiry, the paper said.

Last year, Severstal sought a merger with the world's second-largest steelmaker, Arcelor, but the deal, signed May 26, fell through when it was rejected by Arcelor shareholders, to clear the way for a takeover of the Luxembourg-based company by the world's leading steel producer, Mittal Steel.

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