Corus bidding war escalates

The takeover battle for steel group Corus intensified today after Brazilian firm CSN trumped an offer from Indian rival Tata Steel.

The Corus board backed a 515p-a-share offer from CSN, which valued it at £4.9bn (€7.2bn).

The dramatic move came just hours after Corus approved a 500p-a-share, £4.7bn (€6.9bn) bid from Tata.

The Tata bid was itself an improvement on an earlier 455p-a-share offer and came in response to reports that CSN was ready to offer 475p a share.