The future of the Port Talbot plant is in doubt

Corus, the crisis-hit Anglo-Dutch steelmaker, is set to unveil a radical restructuring that will involve the loss of up to 4,000 jobs, according to reports.

The group is also planning a possible fund-raising and the sale of a number of its businesses, said the Sunday Times newspaper.

The suggestions come after a tumultuous week for Corus, when it lost a court battle against its Dutch supervisory board and saw the departure of its chief executive Tony Pedder.

The group has now pledged to restructure its business, although there are doubts as to how it will now fund this.

Severing ties

Corus had sought court approval to sell part of its business to fund its restructuring.

The group is struggling under a huge debt-mountain and reports suggest it is now looking at alternative means of paying for the overhaul.

Tony Pedder resigned after just 18 months

The Sunday Times said the steelmaker had now instructed its auditors to look at its 20 divisions and see what could be sold.

The newspaper also suggested that Corus was reviewing its bi-national corporate structure after protests from major shareholders over the powers of the Dutch supervisory board.

Weight of debt

The court battle was the result of a row between the UK and Dutch sides of the business over the planned 750m euro (�506m;$808m) sale of two aluminium plants to France's Pechiney.

But the court ruled that Corus' Dutch supervisory board had the right to block the sale and rejected claims from the company's own management that the Dutch custodians had acted irresponsibly.

The company announced a net loss of �458m ($733m) for 2002 while turnover fell to �7.19bn from �7.7bn in 2001.

Corus blamed the global economic slowdown and the strength of the pound against the euro for the drop in sales.

The company's debts stood at �1.24bn at the end of 2002, with asset sales having managed to cut the debt burden by �324m last year.

The group warned last week that it would be forced to cut jobs as it closed more plants in the UK.