The latest move comes after a tit-for-tat battle over the holiday period, which saw the rival bidders both hike their offers.

The Belgian firm raised its offer of 230p a share to 251p on December 23 having kicked off the bid tussle a month earlier with an initial 205p a share bid, which at the time valued the Leicestershire-based powered access specialist at just £348m.

But French plant maker Loxam came back with another revised offer on 28 December of 260p.

When TVG raised its offer today to 261p, it also revealed it now owned about 20% of Lavendon’s shares. The new TVH bid is an 88% premium to Lavendon’s closing price of 139p on November 21, before the first bid for the UK firm was revealed.

Lavendon’s board advised shareholders to take no action with regard to the revised offer from TVH and said a further announcement would be issued in due course.

Lomax also said it was considering its options.