BILLIONAIRE businessman and Chelsea Football Club owner Roman Abramovich was last night a step closer to acquiring an interest in Corus, which employs 3,000 people in the North-East.
The Russian tycoon bought a 41 per cent stake in the Evraz Group, his home country's largest steelmaker, this week.
His holding company, Millhouse Capital, has agreed to buy the stake, a statement from Evraz confirmed.
He is rumoured to be considering exchanging some shares between the companies, giving him a non-controlling stake in Anglo-Dutch steel maker Corus, enabling the companies to link up, giving Corus a foothold in Russia.
The reports about Corus, which surfaced earlier this month - before Mr Abramovich signed a deal for a stake in Evraz - followed speculation in March that Corus was in merger talks with Evraz.
Corus, which was set up through the merger of British Steel and Dutch group Hoogovens in 1999, employs 24,000 people in the UK at locations including Teesside, Scunthorpe, in Lincolnshire, Rotherham, South Yorkshire, and Port Talbot, in Wales.
It is the world's eighth largest steelmaker by volume.
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