Suitor raises stake in Northern

Mr Boparan, who owns the Harry Ramsden's fish and chip shop chain, bought 22.4m shares in Northern for 16.3m on Monday, underlining his financial firepower.

The poultry magnate, who is Tesco's biggest chicken supplier, increased his stake from 6.6 per cent with the share purchase.

He is offering Northern shareholders 73p per share for the maker of Goodfella's pizza and Fox's biscuits. He plans to combine it with his 2 Sisters Food Group to create a 2bn turnover privately-owned food conglomerate with significant exposure to the UK's supermarkets.

Shares in Northern closed unchanged at 74p yesterday.

Mr Boparan's last-minute offer late on Friday won the backing of Northern's board, scuppering the firm's previously agreed all-share merger with Ireland's Greencore, which aimed to create a new food group, Essenta Foods.

There was no update yesterday from Greencore, which is thought to be mulling a cash sweetener, and talking to shareholders. Greencore has reiterated its commitment to the Essenta deal, which it insists offers greater scale and firepower, plus at least 40m of cost savings.

Analysts at Evolution Securities said any rival bid from Greencore will require substantial funds, and cast doubt over the Irish firm's ability to buy Northern.

"The company would likely need to undertake a substantial equity fundraising to finance a rival all-cash bid," said analysts at the stockbrokers.