Gatecrasher in Liberty deal

Liberty, the London department store, was caught in a tug of war yesterday after the Hong Kong-based Pyrrho Investment said it could trump the £42m offer from BlueGem, the hedge fund run by Marco Capello.

BlueGem has irrevocable acceptances from more than 80 per cent of Liberty shareholders including MWB Holdings, its majority investor. But Pyrrho, whose owner, Paul Cummins, has 21 per cent of MWB, said it had been frozen out of the bidding and would be prepared to pay more for the store.