PizzaExpress has upped the ante in the bid to buy rival pizza and pasta group Ask Central.

Owners of PizzaExpress, venture capital group TDR and Capricorn Ventures, have made a £225 million offer for Ask, equivalent of a 220p-a-share bid to shareholders.

The bid was tabled by TDR and Capricorn Ventures, through a company formed specifically for the task, called Riposte.

It represents a 20 per cent improvement on a previous recommended cash-and-shares offer from The Restaurant Group, which came in at 182p a share.

Manjit Dale, founding partner at TDR, said: "Adam and Samuel Kaye and their team have built a great business with excellent prospects. We intend to build on their success by developing the leading full-service restaurant chain in the UK."

TDR and Capricorn bought PizzaExpress for £277.8m in July 2003. A merger with Ask would create a group with some 475 restaurants in the UK.