Goldman Sachs has put itself in pole position to back a rival takeover bid for Six Continents, after rejecting an approach from Hugh Osmond to support his takeover plans.

Leisure entrepreneur Osmond had "talks about talks" over a three-week period with Richard Campbell Breedon, a managing director in UK M&A at Goldman, according to senior banking sources. But Goldman informed Osmond at the end of last week that it did not want to be involved with the planned bid for the consumer goods company by his vehicle, Capital Management and Investment.