Britain's Takeover Panel set a June 29th deadline for a consortium headed by Constellation Brands to make rival offer for UK spirits group Allied Domecq which has already agreed to be taken over by France's Pernod Ricard.
This came as Allied issued the offer document detailing its takeover by Pernod on Wednesday and its scheme of arrangement, which is aimed at speeding up the Allied-Pernod deal.
Allied confirmed it will hold a shareholders' meeting on July 4th to approve its agreed £7.5 billion takeover by Pernod unless a counterbid emerges, in a deal expected to close towards the end of July.
Late last month, Allied agreed to be bought by Pernod and its US partner and Jim Beam bourbon group Fortune Brands for 545p a share in cash and 0.0158 new Pernod shares for each Allied share.
The two groups would split up Allied's brands with Pernod taking the majority. This sparked interest in Allied as the last big buying opportunity in a industry where many players are controlled by family interests.
The world's biggest wine group, Constellation Brands, is leading a consortium which has made a bid proposal but has not yet made a formal offer for Allied. Constellation is leading a team that includes Jack Daniel's maker Brown-Forman and financial firms Lion Capital and Blackstone Group.
Constellation is mulling a rival bid likely to be around 700p per Allied share in cash, sources close to the situation said.
The Pernod-Allied deal would link the world's second and third biggest spirits makers together to rival leader Diageo , which itself has not ruled out becoming involved in a bid with other parties for Allied Domecq.