David Geovanis, managing director of Basic Element, a company which handles Deripaska's main business interests, said an entity linked to Basic Element had bought a stake of less than 3 percent of Corus for an undisclosed sum.
"We think it is an undervalued company with very attractive assets and a lot of great potential," Geovanis said.
Basic Element owns 75 percent of RusAl, Russia's largest aluminum producer and one of world leaders in the industry.
Sibneft tycoon Roman Abramovich owns the remainder.
He said Corus was considering selling off its aluminum interests and Basic Element might be interested in buying them.
"Corus has an aluminum subsidiary, and they said it's a potential candidate for divestiture. It may not be of interest to RusAl, but we think it's attractive and it could be of interest to Basic Element," he added.
Corus produced 250,000 tons of primary aluminum in 2002 and operates two smelters, one in the Netherlands and the other in Germany, according to the company's web site.
It also has rolling mills in Germany, Canada and Belgium making aluminum plate, sheet and coil.
Geovanis said Basic Element, in making its investment in Corus, was not acting in concert with Russian businessman Alisher Usmanov, who owns 11.03 percent of Corus, but supported Usmanov's bid to win a seat on the Corus board.
"I would say that he would like to get on the board and we would support him in his efforts. We are not acting in concert with him, we think he is a good manager in the metals industry," Geovanis said. "There is a [Corus] shareholder meeting in April, but I am not sure he [Usmanov] has a nomination in yet."
Earlier on Wednesday, the Financial Times had quoted Geovanis as saying, "I understand Mr. Usmanov is out there calling on other oligarchs to take stakes in Corus and lining up forces to put pressure on the company."
Usmanov, Corus' second-biggest shareholder, said last week he wants a seat for his investment company, Gallagher Holdings.
Corus shares have surged fivefold in the past year as the company benefited from higher steel prices.
Its market value is now at ?1.8 billion ($3.3 billion).
Cyprus-based Gallagher holds 489 million shares and Usmanov has said he may buy more.
Usmanov also controls Russia's Lebidinsky Iron Ore Mine and Oskolsky Special Steel and has a stake in Alinogorsky Iron Ore Mine.
The companies are ready to supply Corus with steel slabs and iron ore, said Usmanov, who separately runs the investment arm of Gazprom, The state-controlled natural gas producer.
Geovanis said Russian businessmen, who own some of the world's biggest steel companies, were interested in playing a part in the global consolidation of the industry.
"I would say an example is the Severstal acquisition of a U.S. company," he said, referring to Russian steelmaker Severstal's recent purchase of the bankrupt Rouge Industries Inc., a supplier to the U.S. car industry.
"As Russia becomes integrated in the world market it would make sense for Russian companies to expand overseas," he said.
Basic Element and Usmanov are joint owners of Nosta, a major Russian steel producer.
Both have stakes in electricity monopoly Unified Energy Systems. Geovanis and Usmanov sit on the board of UES.
(Reuters, Bloomberg, MT)
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