Gerald Ronson's Heron International is weighing up a rival bid to that of Elliott Bernerd chairman of Chelsfield. If that were not enough to electrify the market Donny Gordon of Liberty is also understood to be casting his eye over the Chelsfield books. The three men-–Ronson, Elliott and Gordon-–are among the biggest personalities in the UK property market and have built multi-million personal fortunes with astute property investment and shrewd but ambitious developments.

Ronson could draw on support from Axa Sun Life through their jointly owned Herax property fund, which is aimed at making "cheap buys" in the depressed UK commercial market. How Liberty would fund an offer is unclear.

The market is unsurprised at the interest in Chelsfield. The company has been well managed, its assets include the £770 million ($1.3 billion) out-of-town shopping centre Merry Hill and it has some biggest and most exciting regeneration projects in the market including £1.5 billion ($2.5 billion) White City in London and Stratford in the South East.

Chairman and founder of Chelsfield Elliott Bernerd has already made a proposed bid that would value the company at £858 million ($1.4 billion). But the company's independent directors, led by Sir Bruce McPhail, declined to recommend the 305p-a-share offer to the company's shareholders in October, saying the bid undervalued the company. At the same time, they opened the door to other potential bidders, saying they would pursue discussions with Bernerd's consortium and "other potentially interested parties".