WPP 'preparing rival £450m cash offer for Tempus'

WPP Group was last night believed to be awaiting a formal response to an estimated all-cash £450m offer for Tempus Group, the UK media buying company whose board has already agreed a £425m bid from Havas, a French advertising firm.

The Tempus board has sought to resist considering the WPP bid as bona fide due to the presence of attached conditions. One is thought to be that the Tempus board recommend the new offer, a matter that could prove difficult for Chris Ingram, the chief executive, who is known to not see eye-to-eye with Sir Martin Sorrell, WPP's chief executive.

A source close to Tempus said: "Discussions and meetings [between Tempus and WPP executives] have occurred as part of the due diligence process. Things are at quite a sensitive stage." Under City takeover rules, WPP was able to conduct due diligence proceedings using the same financial information about Tempus that was available to Havas in formulating its offer.

A source close to WPP noted: "There are one or two conditions that need to be fulfilled. It is all easily do-able."

Pressure, meanwhile, was rising on the Takeover Panel and the Stock Exchange, which, respectively, regulate bid proceedings and the public disclosure of information deemed sensitive to share prices.

As expectations of a heightened WPP counter-offer swirled through the City yesterday, shares in Tempus jumped 21.5p to 590p, well above the Havas 541p offer. Fears that WPP could over-pay and risk earnings dilution saw its shares slide 15p to 683p.

Havas, meanwhile, was huddled with its advisers JP Morgan pondering whether it would have to raise its bid. Havas shares were unchanged at 11.33 euros in Paris.