Tata's acquisition of Britsh Corus Steel Group.

Tata Steel's hard-fought, early Wednesday morning 6.2-billion-pound acquisition of Corus, the seven-year-old Anglo-Dutch company formerly known as the mighty British Steel, has created the world's fifth largest steelmaker, the second most global steel company and dramatically put India on the corporate world's takeover map.

It is the largest overseas acquisition by an Indian company ever. Decision-makers and opinion-makers in Western capitals said Tata's victory over its aggressive Brazilian rival CSN in the eight-hour auction for Corus was a sign of the times.

Both bidders for Corus belonged to countries classified as "emerging economies". Tata's final offer for Corus was 608 pence per share. CSN did not bid higher than 603 p.

The auction and Tata's victory was also a first, officials of the UK Takeover Panel told TOI because Tuesday night's format of a marathon nine rounds of continuous bidding was the first time a company has been auctioned in less than half a day.