Tata hopes to finish Corus deal in Jan
India’s steel major Tata Steel said it had received ‘positive’ feedback from the shareholders of Anglo-Dutch steel manufacturer Corus Steel on its takeover offer and expected the deal to be completed by middle of January, 2007.

An extraordinary general meeting (EGM) of the Corus shareholders is scheduled for December 4 and the deal is expected to go through by the middle of January, Tata Steel managing director B Mathuraman said. The total value of the transaction is pegged at 4.2 billion pounds ($8 billion). If the deal comes through, the two firms together will become the fifth largest steel manufacturer in the world.

US-Russia WTO deal
The United States and Russia have reached an agreement in principle on bilateral terms for Moscow’s entry into the World Trade Organisation.
“We have an agreement in principle and are finalising the details. We are also holding consultations with the Congress and our cleared advisers. This agreement will mark an important step in Russia attaining membership in the WTO,” US Trade Representative Susan Schwab said in a statement. The agreement removes one of the last obstacles in Moscow’s 13-year-old bid to join the WTO.

Trade gap narrows
The US trade deficit narrowed more than expected in September, as oil import prices fell for the first time in five months and US exports edged higher to a new record, a Commerce Department report said. The trade gap totalled $64.3 billion, down from a revised record estimate of $69 billion in August. Wall Street analysts surveyed before the report had expected falling oil prices and imports to narrow the trade gap to around $66 billion.