Is new bidder ready to pay tab at mini Diageo?

PLENTY of Footsie bosses will be on their sun loungers this week, but the takeover bonanza in the City will surely make it hard to relax.

Stock Spirits Group chairman David Maloney is among those who won’t be resting easily amid chatter that the firm has attracted a new suitor to rival an existing bidder.

Bosses at Stock Spirits, which focuses on central and Eastern European drinks brands, have already endorsed a surprise bid from CVC Capital Partners, one of

Britain’s most powerful private equity firms. CVC, which invested in Formula One, has offered £3.77 a share or £767million for the company, whose brands include 1906, Stock Prestige and Syramusa.

However, the talk is that a rival bidder is ready to gatecrash the party for the vodka distiller, which has been dubbed a ‘mini Diageo’. The identity of the other suitor is unclear but there have been plenty of bidding wars of late.

Still time for last orders at the bar with this one. alex.lawson@mailonsunday.co.uk