Somerfield has been at the centre of a number of approaches

The group is the last remaining bidder after London & Regional Properties - owned by brothers Ian and Richard Livingstone - dropped out last week.

The Takeover Panel has set a Friday deadline for offers for the chain, after eight months of takeover talk.

Somerfield is the UK's fifth largest grocer, with about 1,300 shops.

'Work towards an offer'

Since April 2003 a number of potential suitors have come forward for Bristol-based Somerfield, which also owns stores under the KwikSave brand.

They include two failed approaches from retail entrepreneurs John Lovering and Bob Mackenzie two years ago.

In February 2005, Icelandic venture capital group Baugur made an approach while United Co-operative also expressed an interest, as did the Livingstone brothers. These parties all subsequently dropped out of the running.

The Tchenguiz-Apax-Barclays consortium said on Tuesday that it continued "to work towards an offer" although it added there was no certainty an offer would be made.

On 16 September the Takeover Panel issued a "put up or shut up" ultimatum to potential bidders, after Somerfield told investors it wanted "a prompt conclusion" to the bid process.

The panel has set a deadline of 1700 UK time (1600 GMT) on Friday for potential bidders to make an offer and so remove the uncertainty surrounding Somerfield.

Somerfield shares closed at 183.5 pence on Monday to value the firm at �1.01bn ($1.78bn).