Dutch board members of troubled steel group Corus have raised the possibility that the 1999 merger which created the Anglo-Dutch group could be reversed, their lawyer said today.
"The (Dutch) supervisory board has reached the conclusion that it is not necessary to weaken Dutch Corus by selling profitable parts, considering it might be possible that the merger realised not long ago might be reversed," a lawyer for the three Dutch members of the group's four-member supervisory board said.
He did not say whether the Dutch supervisory board members explicitly supported a break-up of the merger.
The lawyer was speaking in court in Amsterdam where Corus management was trying to reverse a decision by the Dutch board to block the planned sale of Corus aluminium activities to France's Pechiney.
News the €750 million sale was in jeopardy hammered Corus shares yesterday.
Corus was formed from the merger of British Steel and Hoogovens in 1999.