Gondola has extended its offer for Pizza Express by one week.
Last month Gondola trumped a rival bid by Pizza Express former chairman and chief executive Luke Johnson and Ian Eldridge with a £277.8m offer.
The bid vehicle - backed by the owner of the Nando's chicken restaurants Capricorn Ventures and private equity group TDR - said that it had received acceptances from the owners of just over 17 per cent of Pizza Express shares by 3pm on Thursday, the first closing date.
Gondola announced yesterday that it would now extend the offer period by seven days to Thursday.
Mr Johnson's camp - operating under name Venice Bidder - indicated two weeks ago that it may increase its offer of £263m. Pizza Express, of Uxbridge, Middlesex, has 311 restaurants.
Shares in the company were unchanged at 389p.
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