Two rival groups bidding for UK snacks maker United Biscuits are reported to be considering a joint offer for the firm.

The Financial Times says that Finalrealm, a consortium which includes French food group Danone and three financial investors, has discussed a joint bid with rival Burlington Biscuits, an American consortium made up of snacks giant Nabisco and a Texan private equity giant, Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst.

The FT says the potential offer would be worth almost �1.3bn, higher than the two sides previous bids of �1.2bn and �1.26bn.

The paper said that a joint offer could face problems from UK regulatory bodies. The two consortia would only get parts of the company that they wanted and would have to decide how to divide its assets, the paper said.

A bidding war for United Biscuits erupted last year when Burlington increased its offer for UB to 254p a share, valuing United at �1.2bn.

Just three hours later, Finalrealm trumped the bid with an offer of 265p a share, pushing the value of UB up to �1.26bn.

Both sides are to submit final bids by 29 February.

UB's woes

The battle to win control of UB, which makes the well-known Penguin and McVitie's brands as well as KP snacks, began when the company let it be known it was struggling and was open to offers.

UB's woes have been largely the result of supermarket price wars, which have put pressure on its margins. It concluded that it needed to be part of a larger concern to be able to compete.

United Biscuits is an international food group with operations in 22 countries, employing 22,500 people around the world - about 19,000 of these are in the UK.

It has international biscuit sales worth nearly �1bn and its UK snacks business boasts sales worth more than �300m.

It is the fourth-largest biscuit company in the world and number two in Europe.