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The battle for ownership of Corus finally came to an end in the early hours of the morning on 31st January when Tata Steel offered 608p per share, following an intense auction process in which Brazil's CSN went as high as 603p. The Tata Steel bid has been recommended by the Corus board and the purchase is now certain to go ahead.
All members of the British Steel Pension Scheme will have received a letter from the Trustee Chairman explaining how consultations took place with both bidding companies to ensure that pensions would be safe regardless of the outcome. Although the final offer from Tata was about £1.5 billion higher than their initial bid, itself geared by £3.3 billion of debt, the assurances received should not be affected. The involvement of the Pension Regulator's Office, which has already demonstrated real power in other takeover situations, gives added confidence that pensioners will not lose out.
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