Irish hotel group Jurys Doyle said Precinct Investments had made a second bid approach to the company and raised its proposed offer price by €1 a share.
Shares in Jurys jumped 65 cents, or 4.2 per cent, after the announcement to a fresh all-time high of €16.10. It closed at €16, a net 5.3 per cent higher on the day.
"The board of Jurys Doyle announces that it has received a further unsolicited approach from Precinct Investments Limited at a price of €16.25 per share, which may or may not lead to an offer for the company," Jurys said in a statement.
Last month, Jurys rejected an approach at €15.25 per share from Irish-based Precinct that had valued it at around €960 million, saying it did not reflect the company's value or its prospects.
Precinct , which took Ireland's Gresham Hotel Group private last year, is among a number of parties said to be interested in Jurys, which owns prime sites in some of the most expensive areas in Dublin.
To be successful, any bid would require the backing of the Doyle and Beatty families, which together own around 30 per cent of the group.
Analysts had put the break-up value of the company at around €14.80 - €15.0 but were uncertain how much of a premium any potential buyer would have to pay to win over shareholders.
"An outside party has obviously identified a significant embedded value in Jurys underlying assets, particularly in their Dublin 4-star hotel properties," said Gavin Kelleher of Goodbody Stockbrokers.
However, any purchaser breaking up the group would also be liable for capital gains, estimated by one analyst at up to €200 million.
Media reports have named a number of other possible bidders for Jurys, including the Dublin consortium that recently paid €120 million for the city's landmark Shelbourne Hotel, and Quinlan Private, which last year bought London's exclusive Savoy, Connaught, Berkeley and Claridge's hotels for £750 million.