CSN Joins Latin M&A Party

Brazilian steel producer CSN has jumped on the Latin M&A bandwagon with an $8 billion cash offer for British steel group Corus, trumping a bid made last month by India’s Tata Steel. The cash offer of 475 pence per ordinary share will be covered by existing resources and new debt facilities underwritten by Barclays, Goldman Sachs Credit Partners and BNP Paribas, CSN said. Otavio de Garcia Lazcano, CSN’s chief financial officer, said a large part of the financing would have no recourse to CSN. Lazard is lead financial adviser to CSN, while Goldman Sachs is financial adviser and joint broker, and UBS is joint broker. The combined CSN-Corus would create a top five global steel producer, according to the Brazilian acquirer. CSN indirectly owns 34 million Corus ordinary shares or 3.8% of the issued ordinary share capital of Corus. The CSN announcement follows a $12 billion Cemex bid for Rinker and CVRD’s $18 billion acquisition of Inco. M&A bankers say there is more to come in the short term from Latin America and predict a bumper 2007.