Sir Tom Hunter increased his stake in Dobbies Garden Centres – as Tesco extended the deadline for shareholders to accept its takeover bid for the company. Daily Telegraph

Hunter has been building his stake in Dobbies since Tesco launched a £228m takeover bid for the garden centre chain in June and now owns 26%.

Yesterday Tesco admitted that it had persuaded shareholders holding just 1.4% of Dobbies shares to accept its £15-a-share offer — in addition to the 11.7% it already owns and the 19.1% of irrevocable acceptances.

Tesco extended its offer until 8 August.