Britain's Rentokil Initial said that Raphoe Management, which had previously made an approach to the services company about a takeover, was not ready to put forward a proposal.

Rentokil also said in a statement that it had told Raphoe's advisers: "It would not be appropriate to pass Raphoe information that is not available to other public investors unless and until a proposal is received that the board considers would be in the best interests of shareholders."

Sources familiar with the situation said there has been contact this week between Raphoe's advisers at Europa and Rentokil's advisers, UBS, and the bid vehicle had sent a letter asking the services conglomerate to open its books.

Raphoe declined to comment.

Rentokil shares fell 2.3 per cent to 158.5 pence to value the business at about £2.9 billion.

On Monday, businessman Gerry Robinson said he intended to make a bid approach to Rentokil via his company Raphoe, whose shares had fallen two-thirds from their highs of 1999.

Sources said at the time that Raphoe's potential bid would be a largely share offer with a cash component that would leave existing Rentokil investors holding more than 90 per cent of the new company.

On Thursday, Rentokil said it planned to keep the company largely intact after a strategic review.