The new offer takes the form of 280p in cash and 40p in Duelguide paper, with an option to convert 35p of this to cash. At this level it represents a 29.6 % premium to the Chelsfield share price on May 15 2003, when the MBO was first mooted. And it shows a 7.2 % premium to Chelsfield's last published Net Asset Value.

The bid consortium--made up of Elliott Bernerd; Chelsfield International; the Olayan Group; the Bank of East Asia; the family interests of David Li; Elengrove Resources, Inc. and David Phillips—-now speaks for 44.4% of Chelsfield shares. But their bid is conditional on the completion of a deal with Morley Fund Management to inject Global Switch, Chelsfield's troubled venture into the Internet co-location business, into a new limited partnership. This deal is not likely to be completed until late February.

At the same time Chelsfield has confirmed that it plans to take over retail developer Stannifer. Stannifer's founder Ron Barrott will become a director of Duelguide as well as buying a stake in the business.

Bernerd says: "After over 10 years of Chelsfield being a public company, I am now firmly of the view that the challenges facing the business will be best met by the proposals we have announced today. I believe that we have offered a full and fair price."