Jefferson Smurfit is thought to be considering a takeover bid for British packaging company, Norcor Holdings - a bid that would probably cost the company more than £20 million.

Norcor, a publicly-quoted company, disclosed yesterday that SGH, a Smurfit subsidiary, bought a further million shares on Wednesday, taking its stake in the Norwich-based company to 6.8 million shares or 25.4 per cent.

The Smurfit subsidiary has been buying up small amounts of Norcor stock in the past year. Since the beginning of this month, Smurfit has taken its stake from 10 per cent to 25 per cent.

A spokesman for Smurfit would make no comment on the stake-building in Norcor, but industry analysts believe that Smurfit is probably gearing itself up for a bid. Page 2