The battle for control of Energy Group took another twist yesterday when Texas Utilities attempted to trump its US rival PacifiCorp with a £4.46 billion takeover offer.

Texas Utilities' 840p a share offer was its second bid within 24 hours. And in an effort to tighten its grip on Energy and see off the threat from PacifiCorp, it splashed out more than £600 million to buy a 14 per cent stake in the British company.