Lazard is the latest in a string of advisers to be hired by the management of Corus, the Anglo-Dutch steel group, which last week lost a court battle with its supervisory board.

The appointment rekindles an old relationship Lazard had with British Steel, which in 1999 merged with Koninklijke Hoogovens of the Netherlands to create Corus. Lazard was an occasional adviser to British Steel, but the only sizeable deal the bank worked on for the company was in 1990 when it acquired Walker Steel of the UK for £330m (€479m). Lazard did not advise Koninklijke Hoogovens.