Brazil’s third biggest steelmaker Cia Siderurgica Nacional SA fell the most in seven weeks after increasing its stake in Usinas Siderurgicas de Minas Gerais SA as the fight for control of its rival intensifies.

The stock dropped 4.2% to BRR 14.92 at 2:24 PM in Sao Paulo and earlier lost as much as 5.3%, the most since October 3.

CSN now holds 20.14% of Usiminas’s preferred shares and 11.66% of the common shares, according to a regulatory filing Nov 18 after the market closed.

CSN has been buying Usiminas shares since at least January, when it said it may boost holdings to a level that could alter management or the control structure.

The announcement came one day after Ternium SA, the second largest steelmaker in Latin America after Gerdau SA, said it’s in talks to buy a minority stake in Usiminas, sparking an 18% plunge in the Luxembourg-based company’s shares.

(Sourced from bloomberg.net)