LONDON, Feb 22 (Reuters) - British supermarket Sainsbury's has been given more time to table a firm bid forArgos-owner Home Retail after a possible higher rivaloffer from South African retail group Steinhoff International emerged on Friday.
Home Retail said on Monday the Takeover Panel had extendedTuesday's deadline to formalise Sainsbury's' takeover proposalto March 18, the same date for Steinhoff to make a firm bid orwalk away.
On Friday Frankfurt-listed Steinhoff, which already has aretail presence in the UK through Bensons Beds and the Harvey'sfurniture chain, proposed an all cash offer of 175 pence foreach Home Retail share.
That was 8.5 percent higher than Sainsbury's cash and sharesproposal worth 161.3 pence, or a total of 1.3 billion pounds ($1.84 billion), when it was made on Feb. 2 that Home Retail hadsaid it was willing to recommend. ($1 = 0.7071 pounds) (Reporting by James Davey; editing by Sarah Young)