The consortium backing the hostile offer for Go-Ahead, the UK transport group, is aggressively proceeding with its offer despite a firm rejection by Go-Ahead's management.

Last week, Frederick Holliday, Go-Ahead's chairman, urged his shareholders to reject the £320m (€523.7m) bid from C3D, a subsidiary of Caisse des Depots et Consignations, an agency of the French government, and Rhône Capital, a French/US private equity fund.