Carlsberg and Heineken are set to increase their offer to 800p a share in a bid to seal a deal for Scottish & Newcastle (S&N), reports Reuters.
The Consortium has been given until 21 January by the UK Takeover Panel to clinch a deal or drop its bid.
S&N rejected a 780p a share offer last week and is hoping to wrest control of Baltic Beverage Holdings (BBH), its joint venture with Carlsberg, from the Danish brewer by proving it breached their agreement.
One source told the Reuters agency: "Carlsberg simply cannot walk away and risk losing BBH. It has to pay up this week."
S&N has been rumoured to be willing to accept an offer of 800p a share, which would value the company at £7.8bn.
Yesterday, reports suggested that Anheuser-Busch were willing to help S&N buy out Carlsberg's stake in BBH, should they be successful in its arbitration case.
Private equity groups Blackstone and Texas Pacific Group are also said to be interested.
