The paper said the decision to sell the company as an entirity was made by the board on Tuesday - following the submission of offers by second round bidders last week - and then told bidders the following day.

However the paper added the company may reopen bidding for the separate halves of the business after assessing offers for the company as a whole.

Bids for the entire company have been reported to be around $3 billion (?1.8m), including assumption ...