Venture capitalist TDR has been set a deadline either to come forward with a bid for Ask Central or pull out of the race completely.
The Takeover Panel has set a deadline of noon on February 13 to put in an offer for the pizza and pasta restaurant group, following discussions with the company’s advisors.
TDR originally announced on January 9 that it was considering a bid for Ask. On January 23 Ask said that TDR had approached it with a possible 220p-a-share offer.
TDR has now said that it has lined up the Royal Bank of Scotland and Lehman Brothers as underwriting banks to help fund its offer, and expects to finalise funding details next week.