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RIO DE JANEIRO -(Dow Jones)- Controlling shareholders of Brazilian steelmaker Usinas Siderurgicas de Minas Gerais SA (USIM5.BR, USNZY) said Friday that they are unaware of any proposal by rival steelmaker Companhia Siderurgica Nacional SA (CSNA3.BR, SID) to acquire a stake in the company. The shareholders replied to a request for information from Brazilian securities commission CVM following local press reports that CSN has made an offer for Usiminas shares, Usiminas said in a statement. Usiminas's controlling shareholders Nippon Steel (5401.TO, NISTY), the Usiminas employees' pension fund and Brazilian industrial groups Votorantim and Camargo Correa said in statements sent to Usiminas that they are unaware of an alleged bid by CSN for voting stock in Usiminas and hadn't been informed of the possibility of a share sale that could involve their exercising their rights of first refusal. On Sep. 8, O Estado de S.Paulo newspaper said that CSN had offered around five billion Brazilian reais ($ 2.9 billion) for the 26% stake held by Camargo Correa and Votorantim in Usiminas's voting capital. The newspaper didn't say where it obtained the information, which caused Usiminas's share values to skyrocket on the Bovespa stock exchange in the days that followed. CSN denied the existence of such an offer in a statutory filing. In late August, CSN announced that it held 11.29% of Usiminas's voting shares and 15.15% of its preferred shares, after a series of open market purchases of Usiminas stock in recent months, and that it "continues to evaluate strategic alternatives" with regard to its stake in Usiminas. Brazil's anti-trust body Cade said this week it had not received any notification of an offer by CSN for a block of Usiminas shares. Votorantim and Camargo Correa said in a letter sent to Usiminas that they had received inquiries from third parties as to whether they would be interested in selling their stakes in Usiminas earlier this year and were also aware of CSN's interest in raising its participation in Usiminas. However, there is no proposal on the table and no disinvestment process underway, Votorantim and Camargo Correa said in the letter. The two companies added that they also were unaware of any possible link-up between Usiminas and Brazilian steelmaking group Gerdau SA (GGB, GGBR4.BR), as has also been speculated in the media. (MORE TO FOLLOW) Dow Jones NewswiresCopyright © 2011 Dow Jones Newswires