Thus, the Glasgow-based telecoms group, is expected to recommend a bid worth up to 180p from Cable & Wireless, according to reports yesterday.

Thus, the Glasgow-based telecoms group, is expected to recommend a bid worth up to 180p from Cable & Wireless, according to reports yesterday.

C&W is widely expected to make a formal offer today and has set a self-imposed deadline of 5pm.

The Scottish company, which recently reported a maiden profit, rejected a bid of 165p a share from C&W earlier this month, saying that the cash offer undervalued the company.

A 180p bid would be 9% higher than C&W's previous potential offer of 165p and a 65% premium to its share price before discussions began, valuing Thus at around £329m.

C&W, which is the UK's second biggest corporate telecoms provider after BT, said on May 28 it had approached the board of Thus about a possible cash offer.

Although Thus, which provides telecoms and broad-band networks mainly to corporate customers, rejected that initial proposal, its chief executive Bill Allan, former C&W executive, reportedly relented last week under pressure from share- holders and opened its books to C&W, Thus shares closed down 4.1% at 145.25p on Friday. The company's shares have been on the rise lately after it emerged that its rival was back at the gates and was poised to launch a takeover move on its smaller Scottish rival.

Nonetheless, Thus's shares had nearly halved in the past year until their recent surge.

C&W declined to comment on yesterday's reports.

However, this latest C&W approach may be regarded with some relief by many of Thus's long-suffering shareholders.

The company, which is a widely-held stock north of the border as a result of its 1999 demerger from Scottish Power, has seen its share price tumble helplessly from dizzy heights of £80 - when it was catapulted, briefly, into the FTSE 100 during the dot.com boom, before it was forced into a 10 for one consolidation of its shares.

The company was among the most spectacular boom-then-bust stocks of the dot.com era. At its peak in March 2000, it was valued at around £1.5bn.

Thus, which owns Demon broadband, employs 1700 staff, and also counts large businesses and public sector bodies as clients. Thus currently has a market capitalisation of around £250m.