Centrica, the owner of British Gas, has made a £1.3billion takeover bid for Venture Production, the North Sea gas producer.

The company, which had been given a deadline of 5pm next Monday in which to make a full bid by the Takeover Panel, also announced that it had raised its stake in Venture from 23.6 per cent to 29 per cent.

It did so by buying private equity group 3i’s 5.4 per cent stake in Venture in a deal agreed just hours after it was claimed that Venture’s major shareholders had agreed not to sell their stakes at too low a price in the event of a bid for the company.

Centrica, which is Britain’s largest energy supplier, said that the 845p-a-share all-cash offer represented a 45.7 per cent premium to Venture’s share price on the last trading day prior to the offer period.

Sam Laidlaw, chief executive of Centrica, said: “We are making what we believe to be an attractive offer to Venture shareholders, providing both a significant premium to Venture’s undisturbed share price and certainty now through an all-cash offer at a time of continuing weakness in UK gas prices and ongoing economic uncertainty.”

Mr Laidlaw said that a successful takeover would provide the enlarged group with an enhanced position in the North Sea and a diversified asset portfolio across a number of asset and production areas. He said Centrica’s backing would provide the financial strength required to develop Venture’s business fully.

Mr Laidlaw added: “We are very pleased to have secured the acquisition of 3i’s stake, which demonstrates the support of another one of Venture’s largest shareholders for our bid to buy Venture, and so we are now making the offer directly to Venture's other shareholders.”

The bid for Venture is Centrica’s second major deal in three months. The company, which raised £2.2 billion in a rights issue last year, agreed to take a 20 per cent stake in nuclear electricity generator British Energy in May in a deal that left it plenty of firepower for acquisitions.

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