Mr Philip Green plans to reveal details of his offer for Marks and Spencer (M&S) to the new management team at the struggling UK retail group tomorrow.
Members of the Green camp yesterday insisted that the retail entrepreneur was pushing ahead with the first stage of his planned bid for M&S - although they admitted that the group's move to hire Mr Stuart Rose, the former Arcadia boss, would make things more difficult.
Mr Green and his advisers will send M&S a copy of their proposals "and wait to hear from them". They might also make the details public at the same time.
"M&S have done their bit with Stuart," said one person close to Mr Green. "But there is nothing that we have seen which changes anything from our point of view.
"Shareholders have to decide if they want cash and the potential upside with us, or just the potential upside that Stuart offers."
Many leading institutional shareholders - who had demanded management changes at M&S - yesterday said the hiring of Mr Rose would make it more difficult and more expensive for Mr Green to win their backing.
Shares in M&S rose another 6p to close at 365½p.
Meanwhile, M&S revealed the heavy cost of the weekend management shake-up that is being seen as the first stage of its defence against Mr Green - a total of more than £6 million (€9 million) in salary, bonuses and signing up fees for its new hires and compensation for the two men leaving.
Mr Rose joins the group as chief executive on a deal that could earn him almost £3 million in his first year - an £850,000 base salary, a possible 100 per cent bonus and a £1.25 million signing-up fee. This compares with the £600,000 that Mr Roger Holmes, his predecessor, was paid last year.
Mr Charles Wilson, Mr Rose's former Arcadia colleague who joins as an executive director, will be paid £500,000 a year. He could earn the same in a bonus and he also receives a £900,000 signing up fee.
Both men will be on a share options package, the details of which were not announced but are likely to be worth four times their salaries.
Meanwhile, the ousting of Mr Holmes and Mr Luc Vandevelde, the group's chairman, will cost M&S £1.21 million.
Mr Vandevelde will get 162,000 M&S shares, valued at almost £600,000 at last night's close, while Mr Holmes will get £620,000.
