CVC battle for Betfair goes to the wire

The telephone betting room at Betfair, Hammersmith, private equity firm CVC has lauched a 880p-a-share offer for the bookmaker. Photograph: Graham Turner for the Guardian

Private equity group CVC Capital Partners was last night hopeful of producing a last-minute improved offer for online betting exchange Betfair before a 5pm deadline on Monday .

The deadline set by the Takeover Panel could see CVC, which is bidding alongside two major Betfair shareholders, increase the 880p-a-share offer it made last month to as much as 10. If the deadline passes, the private equity group will be barred from making another offer for six months.

Discussions between the two sides continued throughout the weekend with no sign of a deal expected until the last moment. The board also has the option of extending the deadline if it can persuade the takeover panel a deal is likely.

The majority of current shareholders bought their stakes when the company listed in October 2010 at 13 a share and will need to decide whether there is any long-term value in the company.

Last week, Betfair's chief executive, Breon Corcoran, said the company would expect a higher offer, claiming that cost savings of between 20m and 30m would be in place next year. He raised full-year revenue forecasts from between 370m and 385m to 387m.

Since listing the group has struggled with a series of profit warnings and failed expansion plans, leading to 500 redundancies and withdrawal from markets including Germany, Greece and Cyprus to focus on the core UK business.

Shares closed on Friday up 2.6% at 898p.