Corus Group
Encyclopedia
Tata Steel Europe is a multinational
steel
-making company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the second-largest steel-maker in Europe and is a subsidiary of Tata Steel
of India, one of the ten largest steel producers in the world.
Corus Group was formed through the merger of Koninklijke Hoogovens
and British Steel
on 6 October 1999. It was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index
but was acquired by Tata in 2007
. On 27 September 2010 Corus announced it was changing its name to Tata Steel Europe and adopting the Tata corporate identity.
on 28 July 1967 by the Labour Party
government of Harold Wilson
. On 5 December 1998 the company was privatised as a result of the British Steel Act 1988. Koninklijke Hoogovens was a Dutch
steel producer founded in 1918, located in IJmuiden.
On 6 October 1999 British Steel merged with Koninklijke Hoogovens to form 'Corus Group' forming the third largest producer of steel behind POSCO
of South Korea and Nippon Steel
of Japan. British Steel formed about two-thirds of the merged group.
On 16 March 2006, Corus announced that it had signed a letter of intent to sell its aluminium rolled products and extrusions businesses to Aleris International, Inc. for £570m. Corus retained its smelting operations and supply Aleris under a long-term agreement. On 1 August, the sale to Aleris Europe was completed.
, part of India's Tata Group
, purchased a 100% stake in the Corus Group at 608 pence per share in an all cash deal, cumulatively valued at (USD 12.04 Billion).
Tata surprised the credit default swap
segment of the derivative markets by deciding to raise $6.17bn of debt for the deal through a new subsidiary of Corus called 'Tata Steel UK', rather than by raising the debt itself. Tata's security
credit rating
is investment grade, whereas the new subsidiary may not be. The higher risk associated with raising debt through a subsidiary with a lower credit rating prompted Fitch Ratings
to downgrade its rating of the credit swap risks in the takeover to 'negative'. Fitch also stated that Corus' responsibility for the debt may lead to Corus' own unsecured debt rating being downgraded. This does not affect the rating of bonds issued by Corus which are secured debt.
On 19 November 2006, the Brazil
lian steel company CSN
launched a counter offer for Corus at 475 pence per share, valuing it at $8.4 Billion.
On 10 December 2006, Tata preemptively upped the offer to 500 pence (the “Revised Tata Acquisition”). Other than the increased offer price, the Revised Tata Acquisition was subject to the same terms and conditions as set out in the original offer.
On 11 December 2006, CSN announced a formal offer for the Company at an offer price of 515 pence per Corus Share (the “CSN Acquisition”), valuing the deal at $ 9.6 Billion.. The CSN Acquisition would also be implemented by way of a scheme of arrangement
and is subject to a pre-condition that either Corus Shareholders reject the Tata Scheme or the Tata Scheme is otherwise withdrawn by Corus or lapses. The Corus board promptly recommended both the revised offers to its shareholders.
On 19 December 2006, Corus announced the following:
In the light of the competing offers for Corus by Tata Steel UK Limited (“Tata”) and CSN Acquisitions Limited (“CSN”), the Company announced on 12 December 2006 that the Corus Directors intended to propose resolutions to shareholders at each of the reconvened EGM and Court Meeting to be held on 20 December 2006 to adjourn those meetings. The Company also stated that it would announce a proposed date for those adjourned meetings in due course.
Also on 19 December 2006, UK Watchdog the Panel on Takeovers and Mergers
announced that the last date for each of Tata and CSN to announce revised offers for the Company, should they wish to do so, is 30 January 2007. They also warned that it would begin an auction procedure if the two remained in competition.
On 31 January 2007, following the lack of agreement on an offer, the previously mentioned auction process was triggered. Following the conclusion of the auction process (at an unprecedented length of nine rounds) conducted by the Panel in accordance with Rule 32.5 of the Code (the "Auction"), Tata Steel announced the proposed acquisition of Corus Group at 608p per share, that being 5p more than CSN's top offer of 603p. The £6.7 billion deal includes £500 million of debt.
The Corus Group board recommended the acquisition to their shareholders later the same day.
Following the sale of Teesside Steelworks
to SSI in February 2011, Tata now operate three major integrated steel plants
:
It also has secondary rolling mill
s and steel product manufacturing sites situated at:
In addition it has tube mills located at Corby
, Stockton
and Hartlepool
in England and Oosterhout
, Arnhem
, Zwijndrecht
and Maastricht
in the Netherlands. It has service centres predominantly in Northern Europe and sales offices in around 70 countries around the world. It has a color coating line in Sakarya
, Turkey
.
Tata is the sponsor of the Tata Steel Chess Tournament in the Netherlands and the UK triathlon
team.
On 26 January 2009, Corus announced job cuts of 3500 worldwide and 2500 in the UK due the economic downturn and the reduction of steel demand. It was announced that Corus's Rotherham
plant would suffer the worst cutting over 600 jobs. On the same day it was announced that Corus would be closing down its defined benefit pension scheme to new members.
Corus publish a reference guide known as the "Blue Book", which contains details of construction steel sections, and design information to use with Eurocode 3 and BS 5950.
Tata Steel Europe also intends to produce steel roofs that generate power, using Dyesol
technology.
Multinational corporation
A multi national corporation or enterprise , is a corporation or an enterprise that manages production or delivers services in more than one country. It can also be referred to as an international corporation...
steel
Steel
Steel is an alloy that consists mostly of iron and has a carbon content between 0.2% and 2.1% by weight, depending on the grade. Carbon is the most common alloying material for iron, but various other alloying elements are used, such as manganese, chromium, vanadium, and tungsten...
-making company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the second-largest steel-maker in Europe and is a subsidiary of Tata Steel
Tata Steel
Tata Steel is a multinational steel company headquartered in Jamshedpur, India and part of Tata Group. It is the world's seventh-largest steel company, with an annual crude steel capacity of 31 million tonnes, and the largest private-sector steel company in India measured by domestic production...
of India, one of the ten largest steel producers in the world.
Corus Group was formed through the merger of Koninklijke Hoogovens
Koninklijke Hoogovens
Koninklijke Hoogovens was a Dutch steel producer founded in 1918. In 1999, the company merged with British Steel to create Corus Group steel company. In 2007, Corus Group was purchased by India-based Tata Steel.- History :On April 19, 1917, H.J.E...
and British Steel
British Steel
British Steel was a major British steel producer. It originated as a nationalised industry, the British Steel Corporation , formed in 1967. This was converted to a public limited company, British Steel PLC, and privatised in 1988. It was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index...
on 6 October 1999. It was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index
FTSE 100 Index
The FTSE 100 Index, also called FTSE 100, FTSE, or, informally, the footsie , is a share index of the 100 most highly capitalised UK companies listed on the London Stock Exchange....
but was acquired by Tata in 2007
Tata Corus acquisition
On 20 October 2006 the board of directors of Anglo-Dutch steelmaker Corus accepted a $7.6 billion takeover bid from Tata Steel, the Indian steel company. The following months saw a lot of negotiations from both sides of the deal. Tata Steel's bid to acquire Corus Group was challenged by CSN, the...
. On 27 September 2010 Corus announced it was changing its name to Tata Steel Europe and adopting the Tata corporate identity.
Background - Corus
British Steel Corporation was a large British steel producer, consisting of the assets of former private companies which had been nationalisedNationalization
Nationalisation, also spelled nationalization, is the process of taking an industry or assets into government ownership by a national government or state. Nationalization usually refers to private assets, but may also mean assets owned by lower levels of government, such as municipalities, being...
on 28 July 1967 by the Labour Party
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
government of Harold Wilson
Harold Wilson
James Harold Wilson, Baron Wilson of Rievaulx, KG, OBE, FRS, FSS, PC was a British Labour Member of Parliament, Leader of the Labour Party. He was twice Prime Minister of the United Kingdom during the 1960s and 1970s, winning four general elections, including a minority government after the...
. On 5 December 1998 the company was privatised as a result of the British Steel Act 1988. Koninklijke Hoogovens was a Dutch
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
steel producer founded in 1918, located in IJmuiden.
On 6 October 1999 British Steel merged with Koninklijke Hoogovens to form 'Corus Group' forming the third largest producer of steel behind POSCO
POSCO
POSCO is a multinational steel-making company headquartered in Pohang, South Korea. It is the world's third-largest steelmaker by market value and the most profitable Asia-based steelmaker....
of South Korea and Nippon Steel
Nippon Steel
, also referred to as , was formed in 1970. Nippon Steel Corporation is the world's 4th largest steel producer by volume.-Early years:Nippon Steel was created by the merger of two giants, Yawata Iron & Steel and Fuji Iron & Steel...
of Japan. British Steel formed about two-thirds of the merged group.
On 16 March 2006, Corus announced that it had signed a letter of intent to sell its aluminium rolled products and extrusions businesses to Aleris International, Inc. for £570m. Corus retained its smelting operations and supply Aleris under a long-term agreement. On 1 August, the sale to Aleris Europe was completed.
Takeover by Tata Steel
On 30 January 2007, Tata SteelTata Steel
Tata Steel is a multinational steel company headquartered in Jamshedpur, India and part of Tata Group. It is the world's seventh-largest steel company, with an annual crude steel capacity of 31 million tonnes, and the largest private-sector steel company in India measured by domestic production...
, part of India's Tata Group
Tata Group
Tata Group is an Indian multinational conglomerate company headquartered in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. Tata Group is one of the largest companies in India by market capitalization and revenue. It has interests in communications and information technology, engineering, materials, services, energy,...
, purchased a 100% stake in the Corus Group at 608 pence per share in an all cash deal, cumulatively valued at (USD 12.04 Billion).
Tata surprised the credit default swap
Credit default swap
A credit default swap is similar to a traditional insurance policy, in as much as it obliges the seller of the CDS to compensate the buyer in the event of loan default...
segment of the derivative markets by deciding to raise $6.17bn of debt for the deal through a new subsidiary of Corus called 'Tata Steel UK', rather than by raising the debt itself. Tata's security
Security (finance)
A security is generally a fungible, negotiable financial instrument representing financial value. Securities are broadly categorized into:* debt securities ,* equity securities, e.g., common stocks; and,...
credit rating
Credit rating
A credit rating evaluates the credit worthiness of an issuer of specific types of debt, specifically, debt issued by a business enterprise such as a corporation or a government. It is an evaluation made by a credit rating agency of the debt issuers likelihood of default. Credit ratings are...
is investment grade, whereas the new subsidiary may not be. The higher risk associated with raising debt through a subsidiary with a lower credit rating prompted Fitch Ratings
Fitch Ratings
The Fitch Group is a majority-owned subsidiary of FIMALAC, headquartered in Paris. Fitch Ratings, Fitch Solutions and Algorithmics, are part of the Fitch Group....
to downgrade its rating of the credit swap risks in the takeover to 'negative'. Fitch also stated that Corus' responsibility for the debt may lead to Corus' own unsecured debt rating being downgraded. This does not affect the rating of bonds issued by Corus which are secured debt.
On 19 November 2006, the Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
lian steel company CSN
Companhia Siderúrgica Nacional
Companhia Siderúrgica Nacional is the second major steel-maker company in Brazil. Its main plant is located in the city of Volta Redonda, in the state of Rio de Janeiro...
launched a counter offer for Corus at 475 pence per share, valuing it at $8.4 Billion.
On 10 December 2006, Tata preemptively upped the offer to 500 pence (the “Revised Tata Acquisition”). Other than the increased offer price, the Revised Tata Acquisition was subject to the same terms and conditions as set out in the original offer.
On 11 December 2006, CSN announced a formal offer for the Company at an offer price of 515 pence per Corus Share (the “CSN Acquisition”), valuing the deal at $ 9.6 Billion.. The CSN Acquisition would also be implemented by way of a scheme of arrangement
Scheme of arrangement
A scheme of arrangement is a court-approved agreement between a company and its shareholders or creditors...
and is subject to a pre-condition that either Corus Shareholders reject the Tata Scheme or the Tata Scheme is otherwise withdrawn by Corus or lapses. The Corus board promptly recommended both the revised offers to its shareholders.
On 19 December 2006, Corus announced the following:
In the light of the competing offers for Corus by Tata Steel UK Limited (“Tata”) and CSN Acquisitions Limited (“CSN”), the Company announced on 12 December 2006 that the Corus Directors intended to propose resolutions to shareholders at each of the reconvened EGM and Court Meeting to be held on 20 December 2006 to adjourn those meetings. The Company also stated that it would announce a proposed date for those adjourned meetings in due course.
Also on 19 December 2006, UK Watchdog the Panel on Takeovers and Mergers
Panel on Takeovers and Mergers
The Panel on Takeovers and Mergers is a regulatory body located in London, England. It was set up in 1968 and is charged with the administration of the City Code on Takeovers and Mergers...
announced that the last date for each of Tata and CSN to announce revised offers for the Company, should they wish to do so, is 30 January 2007. They also warned that it would begin an auction procedure if the two remained in competition.
On 31 January 2007, following the lack of agreement on an offer, the previously mentioned auction process was triggered. Following the conclusion of the auction process (at an unprecedented length of nine rounds) conducted by the Panel in accordance with Rule 32.5 of the Code (the "Auction"), Tata Steel announced the proposed acquisition of Corus Group at 608p per share, that being 5p more than CSN's top offer of 603p. The £6.7 billion deal includes £500 million of debt.
The Corus Group board recommended the acquisition to their shareholders later the same day.
Tata Steel Europe
On 27 September 2010 Corus announced that it was changing its name to Tata Steel Europe and adopting the Tata logo. The style change started with immediate effect on transactional documents but the complete branding change would take place over an unspecified period.Operations
Since 2008, Corus and subsequently Tata Steel Europe has been structured into three divisions. These are:- Strip Products Division
- Long Products Division - construction, industrial, engineering, rail and tubular products
- Distribution and Building Systems Division - steel products for the building industry, and distribution for other products
Following the sale of Teesside Steelworks
Teesside Steelworks
Teesside Steelworks is a large steelworks located on the south Tees, Teesside, England. It stretches from Redcar, where the largest blast furnace in Europe is located, to east Middlesbrough area....
to SSI in February 2011, Tata now operate three major integrated steel plants
Steel mill
A steel mill or steelworks is an industrial plant for the manufacture of steel.Steel is an alloy of iron and carbon. It is produced in a two-stage process. First, iron ore is reduced or smelted with coke and limestone in a blast furnace, producing molten iron which is either cast into pig iron or...
:
- Port TalbotPort Talbot SteelworksPort Talbot Steelworks is an integrated steel production plant in Port Talbot, Wales capable of producing nearly 5 million tonnes of steel slab per annum. The majority of the slab is rolled on-site at Port Talbot and at the Newport Llanwern site to make a variety of steel strip products. The...
, South WalesWalesWales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²... - ScunthorpeScunthorpeScunthorpe is a town within North Lincolnshire, England. It is the administrative centre of the North Lincolnshire unitary authority, and had an estimated total resident population of 72,514 in 2010. A predominantly industrial town, Scunthorpe, the United Kingdom's largest steel processing centre,...
, North LincolnshireNorth LincolnshireNorth Lincolnshire is a unitary authority area in the region of Yorkshire and the Humber in England. For ceremonial purposes it is part of Lincolnshire.... - IJmuidenKoninklijke HoogovensKoninklijke Hoogovens was a Dutch steel producer founded in 1918. In 1999, the company merged with British Steel to create Corus Group steel company. In 2007, Corus Group was purchased by India-based Tata Steel.- History :On April 19, 1917, H.J.E...
in the Netherlands
It also has secondary rolling mill
Rolling (metalworking)
In metalworking, rolling is a metal forming process in which metal stock is passed through a pair of rolls. Rolling is classified according to the temperature of the metal rolled. If the temperature of the metal is above its recrystallization temperature, then the process is termed as hot rolling...
s and steel product manufacturing sites situated at:
- ShottonShotton-Places:England* Shotton, Northumberland, a village in the County of Northumberland* Shotton, Peterlee, a village in County Durham* Shotton, Sedgefield, a village in County Durham* Shotton Colliery, a village in County DurhamWales...
, North WalesNorth WalesNorth Wales is the northernmost unofficial region of Wales. It is bordered to the south by the counties of Ceredigion and Powys in Mid Wales and to the east by the counties of Shropshire in the West Midlands and Cheshire in North West England...
(which manufactures ColorcoatColorcoatColorcoat is a brand owned by steel company Tata Steel Europe, and is the name given to its pre-finished steel products which are commonly used for the building envelope....
products) - Trostre, LlanelliLlanelliLlanelli , the largest town in both the county of Carmarthenshire and the preserved county of Dyfed , Wales, sits on the Loughor estuary on the West Wales coast, approximately west-north-west of Swansea and south-east of the county town, Carmarthen. The town is famous for its proud rugby...
(manufactures TinplateTinningTinning is the process of thinly coating sheets of wrought iron or steel with tin, and the resulting product is known as tinplate. It is most often used to prevent rust....
) - LlanwernLlanwernLlanwern is an electoral ward and community in the urban-rural fringe of the City of Newport, South Wales. Llanwern ward is bounded by the M4 and Langstone to the north, Ringland, Liswerry and the River Usk to the west, the River Severn to the south and the city boundary to the east...
, NewportNewportNewport is a city and unitary authority area in Wales. Standing on the banks of the River Usk, it is located about east of Cardiff and is the largest urban area within the historic county boundaries of Monmouthshire and the preserved county of Gwent... - RotherhamRotherhamRotherham is a town in South Yorkshire, England. It lies on the River Don, at its confluence with the River Rother, between Sheffield and Doncaster. Rotherham, at from Sheffield City Centre, is surrounded by several smaller settlements, which together form the wider Metropolitan Borough of...
(Aldwarke) (manufactures Engineering SteelElectric arc furnaceAn electric arc furnace is a furnace that heats charged material by means of an electric arc.Arc furnaces range in size from small units of approximately one ton capacity up to about 400 ton units used for secondary steelmaking...
) - RotherhamRotherhamRotherham is a town in South Yorkshire, England. It lies on the River Don, at its confluence with the River Rother, between Sheffield and Doncaster. Rotherham, at from Sheffield City Centre, is surrounded by several smaller settlements, which together form the wider Metropolitan Borough of...
(Brinsworth Strip Mills) - StocksbridgeStocksbridgeStocksbridge is a small town and civil parish in the City of Sheffield, in South Yorkshire, England, with a population of 13,663. It lies just to the east of the Peak District....
, South YorkshireSouth YorkshireSouth Yorkshire is a metropolitan county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It has a population of 1.29 million. It consists of four metropolitan boroughs: Barnsley, Doncaster, Rotherham, and City of Sheffield... - Motherwell, North Lanarkshire, Scotland (Dalzell Works) (manufactures Steel Plate)
- CambuslangCambuslangCambuslang is a suburban town on the south-eastern outskirts of Glasgow, Scotland. It is within the local authority area of South Lanarkshire. Historically, it was a large rural Parish incorporating nearby hamlets of Newton, Flemington, and Halfway. It is known as "the largest village in...
, South LanarkshireSouth LanarkshireSouth Lanarkshire is one of 32 unitary council areas of Scotland, covering the southern part of the former county of Lanarkshire. It borders the south-east of the city of Glasgow and contains many of Glasgow's suburbs, commuter towns and smaller villages....
, Scotland (Clydebridge Works) - HayangeHayangeHayange is a commune in the Moselle department in Lorraine in north-eastern France.Outlying villages include Marspich and Saint-Nicolas-en-Forêt, Konacker and Ranguevaux.-Economy:...
, France (RailRail profileThe rail profile is the cross sectional shape of a railway rail, perpendicular to the length of the rail.In all but very early cast iron rails, a rail is hot rolled steel of a specific cross sectional profile designed for use as the fundamental component of railway track.Unlike some other uses of...
Mill) - BergenBergenBergen is the second largest city in Norway with a population of as of , . Bergen is the administrative centre of Hordaland county. Greater Bergen or Bergen Metropolitan Area as defined by Statistics Norway, has a population of as of , ....
, Norway
In addition it has tube mills located at Corby
Corby
Corby Town is a town and borough located in the county of Northamptonshire. Corby Town is 23 miles north-east of the county town, Northampton. The borough had a population of 53,174 at the 2001 Census; the town on its own accounted for 49,222 of this figure...
, Stockton
Stockton-on-Tees
Stockton-on-Tees is a market town in north east England. It is the major settlement in the unitary authority and borough of Stockton-on-Tees. For ceremonial purposes, the borough is split between County Durham and North Yorkshire as it also incorporates a number of smaller towns including...
and Hartlepool
Hartlepool
Hartlepool is a town and port in North East England.It was founded in the 7th century AD, around the Northumbrian monastery of Hartlepool Abbey. The village grew during the Middle Ages and developed a harbour which served as the official port of the County Palatine of Durham. A railway link from...
in England and Oosterhout
Oosterhout
Oosterhout is a municipality and a city in the South of the Netherlands. At June, 2008, the city population was 54,015.-History:Oosterhout is mentioned for the first time in 1277, although archaeological excavations showed the existence of human settlements in the area in prehistoric times. The...
, Arnhem
Arnhem
Arnhem is a city and municipality, situated in the eastern part of the Netherlands. It is the capital of the province of Gelderland and located near the river Nederrijn as well as near the St. Jansbeek, which was the source of the city's development. Arnhem has 146,095 residents as one of the...
, Zwijndrecht
Zwijndrecht
Zwijndrecht may refer to:* Zwijndrecht, Belgium* Zwijndrecht, Netherlands...
and Maastricht
Maastricht
Maastricht is situated on both sides of the Meuse river in the south-eastern part of the Netherlands, on the Belgian border and near the German border...
in the Netherlands. It has service centres predominantly in Northern Europe and sales offices in around 70 countries around the world. It has a color coating line in Sakarya
Adapazari
Adapazarı is a city in northwestern Turkey and the capital of Sakarya Province. The province itself was originally named Adapazarı as well. Adapazarı is a part of the densely populated region of the country, known as the Marmara Region. As of 2010, the city has a population of 560,876 ...
, Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
.
Tata is the sponsor of the Tata Steel Chess Tournament in the Netherlands and the UK triathlon
Triathlon
A triathlon is a multi-sport event involving the completion of three continuous and sequential endurance events. While many variations of the sport exist, triathlon, in its most popular form, involves swimming, cycling, and running in immediate succession over various distances...
team.
On 26 January 2009, Corus announced job cuts of 3500 worldwide and 2500 in the UK due the economic downturn and the reduction of steel demand. It was announced that Corus's Rotherham
Rotherham
Rotherham is a town in South Yorkshire, England. It lies on the River Don, at its confluence with the River Rother, between Sheffield and Doncaster. Rotherham, at from Sheffield City Centre, is surrounded by several smaller settlements, which together form the wider Metropolitan Borough of...
plant would suffer the worst cutting over 600 jobs. On the same day it was announced that Corus would be closing down its defined benefit pension scheme to new members.
Construction
Corus' steel products for construction include:- "Advance" sections - standard structural sections such as universal beams, universal columns, piles and angle sections
- "Celsius" sections - hot-finished hollow sections
- "Hybox" sections - cold-formed hollow sections
- Slimdek - composite metal decking
Corus publish a reference guide known as the "Blue Book", which contains details of construction steel sections, and design information to use with Eurocode 3 and BS 5950.
Electrical steels
Tata Steel Europe produce electrical steels via their subsidiary Cogent Power.Tata Steel Europe also intends to produce steel roofs that generate power, using Dyesol
Dyesol
Dyesol is a maker of dye-sensitized solar cell materials and technology, including components,and research and development...
technology.