Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
07THEHAGUE193
2007-02-01 16:01:00
UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
Embassy The Hague
Cable title:  

TATA TAKEOVER STRATEGIC BOOST FOR DUTCH STEEL MAKER CORUS

Tags:  EIND ECON ETRD OECD NL 
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PP RUEHAG RUEHDF RUEHIK RUEHLZ RUEHROV
DE RUEHTC #0193 0321601
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 011601Z FEB 07
FM AMEMBASSY THE HAGUE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 8068
INFO RUCPDOC/USDOC WASHDC PRIORITY
RUCNMEM/EU MEMBER STATES COLLECTIVE
RUEHAT/AMCONSUL AMSTERDAM 2196
RUEHNE/AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI 0563
RUEHBR/AMEMBASSY BRASILIA 0418
UNCLAS THE HAGUE 000193 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE

STATE FOR EUR/UBI, EUR/ERA, EB/TPP/BTA
STATE PLEASE PASS USTR

USDOC FOR 4212/USFCS/MAC/EUR/OWE/DCALVERT

E.O. 12356: N/A
TAGS: EIND ECON ETRD OECD NL
SUBJECT: TATA TAKEOVER STRATEGIC BOOST FOR DUTCH STEEL MAKER CORUS

REF: 06 THE HAGUE 253

THIS MESSAGE IS SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED. PLEASE HANDLE
ACCORDINGLY.

UNCLAS THE HAGUE 000193

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE

STATE FOR EUR/UBI, EUR/ERA, EB/TPP/BTA
STATE PLEASE PASS USTR

USDOC FOR 4212/USFCS/MAC/EUR/OWE/DCALVERT

E.O. 12356: N/A
TAGS: EIND ECON ETRD OECD NL
SUBJECT: TATA TAKEOVER STRATEGIC BOOST FOR DUTCH STEEL MAKER CORUS

REF: 06 THE HAGUE 253

THIS MESSAGE IS SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED. PLEASE HANDLE
ACCORDINGLY.


1. (U) Indian steel company Tata's $12.2 billion offer on January
31 for the Anglo-Dutch steel company Corus ended an extended bidding
war with Brazilian steel company CSN. The takeover will create the
world's fifth largest steel producer in the world. (Corus currently
ranks eighth, and Tata ranks fifty-fifth.) Tata's final offer was
above analysts' and market estimates. Corus' management board has
recommended the offer to its shareholders as "fair and reasonable"
and "the best value for Corus shareholders." Corus shareholders
will vote on Tata's final offer during a special
still-to-be-scheduled shareholders' meeting.


2. (SBU) Eric van der Oest, a spokesman for Corus operations in
the Netherlands, told Econoff that "the combination of Tata Steel
and Corus was strategically compelling." Corus was already looking
to consolidate in order to increase its market power towards
suppliers of iron ore as well as towards steel buyers. Van der Oest
said the union with Tata would strengthen Corus' market positions in
automotive, construction and packaging while also creating "a more
resilient business model." At the time of Indian steel company
Mittal's takeover of Luxembourg-based Arcelor last year, Corus
officials were already talking about the need to consolidate (see
reftel). The world's "new number five" would be "a
vertically-integrated global steel group" that combined an
"attractive growth platform in Asia with a leading presence in
Europe," he added.

ARNALL