Steinhoff-owned Conforama revealed this morning that its shareholding of London-listed Darty now stands at 20.4% and is set to increase further.

Conforama has received acceptances for an additional 0.32%, which will take its share of Darty to 20.73%.

French rival Fnac currently has a 29.7% stake in the electricals retailer.

Following a frenetic battle with Fnac to acquire Darty, Conforama declared that its final offer of 160p per share was final.

Conforama’s offer falls short of Fnac’s third and final bid of 170p per share – equivalent to £914m – which was tabled on April 26.

Conforama chief executive Alexandre Nodale said: “Our independent board and management had a clear valuation in mind for the standalone Darty business.

“Our final offer of 160p for each Darty share reflects the evaluation criteria we use for all acquisitions, including return on investment and value creation.

“We remain of the opinion that, at this price, the Darty business would have been a good addition to the Steinhoff group of businesses, but at an increased price it would no longer create sufficient value for Steinhoff shareholders, employees and other stakeholders.”

Earlier this month, Darty unanimously recommended a previous offer from Conforama of 138p.