The Eu18.40 (£12.25) a share bid by PAI Partners and Permira announced on Monday was 2.8 per cent higher than a friendly bid made last month by private equity house CVC.
The counter offer surprised analysts because the deal between CVC and 55.7 per cent of the shareholders stipulated that the agreement could only be broken if a counter offer came in above Eu19.33 (£12.87) a share. Today shares are trading at just above Eu19 (£12.65).
A bidding process will begin if Spain's CNMV stock market watchdog authorises the counter offer. Any other potential suitors will have until July 10 to submit a bid.
Cortefiel is run by the Hinojosa family, which owns more than 50 per cent of the capital. Chairman Gonzalo Hinojosa was expected to stand down on completion of the CVC deal.
Permira, which opened a Madrid office in April last year, made its first Spanish acquisition in October when subsidiary CMA Sarl bought Ahold's Spanish retail interests, which included SuperSol, HiperSol, HiperDino, Netto and CashDiplo.
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