Takeover fever swirled around Marks & Spencer yesterday as a raft of corporate high flyers were reportedly poised to make bids.

Supermarket giant Tesco, Phillip Green and the Barclay Brothers, owners of The Scotsman newspaper and The Ritz hotel, were all named as potential bidders for M&S.

Tesco had recruited investment bank Credit Suisse First Boston (CSFB) to lead any offer it might make for M&S, Sunday Business reported.

It was believed that CSFB thought that any bid would have to be around 380p for each share, valuing M&S at nearly £11 billion, the paper said.