Click to play videoNew Delhi/London: Stakes are running high and the battleground is set for one of the biggest acquisition battles in recent history.
As the bidding for one of the world's largest steelmakers, the Anglo-Dutch Corus, begins on Tuesday night, both Indian and international business communities are keeping a close watch.
India's Tata Steel is one of the main contenders in the knockout match with Brazil's CSN, which has so far the highest bid stakes.
Before the Tuesday night thriller unfolds on in London, some of the top names in the Indian industry are bullish on Tata’s prospects.
Gopichand Hinduja of the Hinduja Group wished luck to Tata in its bid. “Indian companies keeps on acquiring the British companies. It helps both ways and will further encourage even the British side to have come and invest in India as well as more and more Indians will start coming to acquire companies here. So I would like to wish good luck to the Tata's to have Corus,” he said.
Swaraj Paul believes that India should have a more open approach towards foriegn companies. “Basically the signal is already there that the Indian companies want to be global and the world welcomes every Indian company and I hope the reverse also comes true,” he said.
Jet Airways Chairman Naresh Goyal is positive about the Corus bid. “I think its very good if Tata's are buying Corus. They are a great company, a great institution. It will make every Indian proud if they buy and I hope they buy and it goes through,” Goyal said.
Reuters reports that Tata Steel expected to raise its bid and spark an auction with CSN. Tata Steel, which is also due to post third-quarter results in the coming hours, is likely to raise its offer to challenge a 4.9-billion-pound ($9.6 billion) deal agreed between Corus and Brazil's Companhia Siderurgica Nacional.
Britain's takeover watchdog has set a 2300 hrs (IST) deadline for bids and if Tata Steel raises its offer, it would kick-start a rapid-fire auction which could go through as many as nine rounds.
The winner of the pitched battle - which has pushed Corus's share price to seven-year highs - will become the world's fifth-biggest steelmaker.
CSN has agreed a 515-pence-a-share offer for Corus, trumping two earlier bids from Tata Steel. But Reuters reports Corus shares are trading well above that level - they closed at 560 pence on Monday - signalling investors are hopeful of a much higher bid.
Tata Steel is on average expected to report net profit rose 46 per cent to $389.8 million in its fiscal third quarter ended Dec. 31, a Reuters poll of 10 analysts showed.
(With CNN-IBN and agency inputs)
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