When he was given the news, Sir Ratan Tata was silent and composed, seeming to read the same sentence over and over again.

Sitting in the Editor’s office at The Times, the chairman of the Tata Group had just been handed a piece of paper with a single line snapped off the wires: "CSN approaches Corus Group with 475 pence a share takeover proposal".

His family’s £4 billion bid for what was once British Steel - a deal which seemed to reverse economic history and recast perceptions about the balance of corporate power between Britain and India - was suddenly in jeopardy.

The £4.2 billion offer by Companhia Siderurgica Nacional (CSN), a Brazilian rival, trumps Tata’s offer and now raises the likelihood of a bidding war breaking out for control of Corus. "Interesting," Sir Ratan said, finally.

The Brazilians, who bought Corus out of a joint venture in Portugal earlier this year, today said they had offered 475p in cash per share. The two companies are understood to have held talks in August but these did not progress.

That offer compares with an agreed a 455p a share deal from Tata Steel, which would have created the world’s fifth largest steel maker and have been the largest ever foreign acquisition by an Indian company.

Tata Steel, part of the Tata industrial empire chaired by Sir Ratan, agreed the cash takeover of Corus only four weeks ago on October 18.

Investors this afternoon believed that Sir Ratan will return with counter offer as the Corus share price immediately jumped 5pc to 496p - well above the price of the Brazilian offer.

It was clear from Sir Ratan’s response at The Times today that Corus had made no contact with the Indian billionaire to inform him earlier of the rival offer.

Although, while in the offices of The Times, Sir Ratan checked his mobile phone for missed calls. One of them had been Jim Leng, the chairman of Corus.
His phone had been buzzing repeatedly in his pocket.

Suddenly, the comments Sir Ratan had made just a few minutes earlier about Tata’s plans for integrating Corus into the family-owned firm, the prospects of selling British-made steel in Asia and the likelihood of job cuts as Corus pursues its rationalisation plans seemed redundant.

The Tata Group had no contingency plan for a counter-offer, he said, because "Corus told us that this probably was not going to happen." As details of CSN’s rival bid kept coming in, Sir Ratan said: "So it is an all cash offer."

Mr Tata was composed, candid and good humoured.

When asked about his plans for a counter offer he laughed and said: "We are not going to leave this office giving you any indication of what we are going to do."

The CSN bid is being backed by a syndicate of banks, which will finance the deal. The banks include Barclays, Goldman Sachs, BNP Paribas and Lazards is advising.
Benjamin Steinbruch, chief executive of CSN, said: "A combination of CSN and Corus would create a global powerhouse with market leading positions and exceptional distribution networks across both developed and emerging markets."

CSN believes its deal will be attractive to investors because it owns an iron ore mine in Brazil, which will mean Corus no longer has to buy its raw materials in the open market. Like Tata, CSN is much smaller than Corus. It produced 5.8 million tonnes of steel last year, compared to Corus's 18 million tonnes.

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