Today in the UK, Delta Two, the Qatar based investment firm trying to takeover supermarket chain J Sainsbury's, was given a deadline of 8th November 2007 to make a bid.

The deadline was set by the Takeover Panel Executive at the request of both Sainsbury's and Delta Two who both agree that it is in the best interests of shareholders and colleagues to bring this process to a conclusion as soon as practicable, according to a joint statement.

Delta Two has made a 600p per share offer for Sainsbury's, however in order to follow through with the offer, the company still needs an addition £500 million of extra equity.

In a statement today the two parties said that Delta Two was trying to secure the extra funding from the Qatar Investment Authority and that as a result, there can be no certainty that such funding will be forthcoming and, therefore, no certainty that an offer will be made.

Delta Two originally approached Sainsbury's in July with an offer, however following the credit crunch the Sainsbury family, who own 18% of the shares were concerned that the offer had too much debt.

Sainsbury's is the third largest supermarket chain in the UK.

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