CSN fails in bid to buy stake in Cimpor -- report

SAO PAULO Feb 22 (Reuters) - Brazilian steelmaker CSN (CSNA3.SA)(SID.N) failed in its bid to buy 33.3 percent plus one share of Portuguese cement maker Cimpor (CPR.LS) after some large shareholders refused to sell, two Portugal-based newspapers said in their online editions on Monday.

CSN only garnered firm offers for about 10 percent of Cimpor's stock, well below its target of at least a third plus a share, Diario Economico and Jornal de Negocios reported, without saying how they obtained the information.

Portuguese investor Manuel Fino's Investifino holding company refused to sell its 10.7 percent of Cimpor, Diario Economico said. The pension fund of bank BCP, which holds another 10 percent of the cement producer, backpedaled from an initial plan to tender its stock to CSN, Jornal added.

Had it been successful, CSN's revised offer could have triggered a full takeover bid. Under Portugal's securities laws, a company can hold a stake of up to one-third in another company without being obliged to make a takeover bid. If the stake is larger than that, a bid must be presented.

The results of CSN's offer, which expired earlier in the day, will be unveiled on Tuesday, both papers said.

On Dec. 18, CSN presented an unsolicited $5.5 billion for Cimpor. The offer was promptly rejected by the target company's board. CSN sweetened its offer this month, but the renewed bid was again dismissed by Cimpor.

CSN declined to comment on the results of the bid, according to a spokeswoman. Spokespeople for Cimpor could not immediately be reached after working hours in Lisbon, where the cement producer is based. (Reporting by Guillermo Parra-Bernal and Cesar Bianconi in Sao Paulo; editing by Andre Grenon)