Precinct, the group that wants to take over Jurys Doyle at €17.50 per share, has been given more time to come up with a firm bid for the hotel group.

In a statement to the Irish Stock Exchange yesterday afternoon, the Takeover Panel said Precinct could now take until 5pm on September 2nd to make an offer for Jurys. The two-week extension of the Panel's earlier deadline, which fell at 5pm yesterday, was widely expected in the market.

Jurys Doyle later confirmed that its board had agreed to Precinct's request for another two weeks in which to prepare a bid.

"The principal purpose of the extension is to enable Precinct to conclude due diligence on Jurys Doyle," the company said.

Jurys also noted that Precinct, the group led by developer Bryan Cullen, had yesterday "confirmed to the board that it is satisfied with the results of its due diligence to date".

It is thought that the delay in completing due diligence is related to proving the title of some Jurys properties through the production of deeds.

The fact that the group's properties are located in three different jurisdictions - the Republic, the UK and the US - is also thought to have slowed the process.

It is believed that the extension was approved by all of the Jurys directors apart from the board members representing the Doyle and Beatty families.

The families, who together control about one-third of the company, have consistently opposed Precinct's approaches since the first was made in early May.

The remaining members of the board have said, however, that they would be prepared to recommend a €17.50 offer from Precinct if it came without preconditions and was subject to an approval level of not less than 50.1 per cent of shares in Jurys.

Yesterday, the company again pointed out that there could be no certainty at this stage that Precinct would actually make an offer.

Shares in the hotel company meanwhile fell on low volume, but they continued to trade significantly higher than the €17.50 Precinct has indicated it will offer.

Closing 30 cent weaker at €17.60, the stock has now traded above €17.50 for slightly more than a week, with much of the strength attributable to the market's belief that a "white knight" bidder could be preparing an approach.

Both Quinlan Private and developer Paddy Kelly expressed an interest in the takeover process this week but neither has approached the company to date.

Market sources say, however, that some of the larger shareholders in Jurys have been informally approached about the possibility of selling blocks of shares to a party other than Precinct.

The wild card in the mix meanwhile is Sean Dunne, the property developer who has an agreement with Jurys to buy the bulk of the site occupied by the hotel group in Dublin's Ballsbridge for €260 million.

Mr Dunne spent €37 million on a 3.37 per cent stake in Jurys last Friday and was expected to buy more shares this week in an effort to protect the Ballsbridge deal in a takeover. In the event, however, he has stayed out of the market, with volume in the stock dwindling to just 20,000 yesterday.