Steel giant Corus has lost its general counsel, Richard Shoylekov, to UK building supply distributor Wolseley.

Shoylekov left Corus in mid-November. He joined the company in 2004 as its director of legal affairs from Italian oil company Agip, where he was global general counsel. Shoylekov led a restructuring of Corus' legal team when he joined the company before being promoted to general counsel and company secretary in 2005.

Associate general counsel Helen Matheson has stepped in as acting general counsel until a replacement is found.

The news comes six months after India's largest conglomerate, Tata Steel, acquired Corus. Longstanding adviser Slaughter and May advised Corus on the deal. Herbert Smith advised Tata.

Shoylekov has worked at firms including Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Watson Farley & Williams and Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft and his move will be of particular interest to Slaughters
and Corus' other existing advisers, which include Norton Rose and DLA Piper.

At Wolseley, Shoylekov replaces interim general counsel Charles Watters, who temporarily took the role after Mark White left the company earlier this year to join food services giant Compass Group.

Wolesley is one of the
world's largest distributors of building equipment, with an annual turnover of more than £16bn and 79,000 employees worldwide.