Peter Burdon, the chief executive of Instore, the Poundstretcher owner, is no stranger to running a company in the midst of takeover talks.

While he was chief executive of Thorntons, a string of bids were made for the chocolate retailer. Indeed, Mr Burdon himself was part of a failed management buyout of the company, supported by Permira, the private equity group, in 2003.

Thorntons may have regretted not accepting his offer of more than 160p per share, as profits fell by more than a third by the time that he left in September 2006.

Yesterday, Instore admitted that it had received a takeover approach, but it declined to reveal the identity of the potential suitor. Speculation in the City focused on Aziz Tayub, a non-executive director who joined the board last year and is the controlling shareholder of Crown Crest, which owns more than 30.8 per cent of Instore. Crown Crest is a discount food retailer specialising in the cash-and-carry market.

Instore's largest shareholder is Tradegro, with a 35.8 per cent stake. Tradegro is part of Tradehold, a South African retail investor, led by Christo Wiese, Instore's chairman.

Mr Burdon had no comment after yesterday's announcement to the Stock Exchange. It is too early to say whether a new owner would keep Mr Burdon, 48, who joined Instore's board in May last year.

Instore has struggled in recent years. In January it reported poor Christmas sales, causing its share price to slump by 14 per cent. In the year to March 1 it cut its pre-tax loss before exceptionals to £2.2 million from £9.1 million the year before.

Mr Burdon is rebranding the Poundstretcher sites, which sell everything from kitchenware to home furnishings, to Instore. John Jackson, a non-executive director of Instore, described Mr Burdon as “an experienced chief executive”.

Mr Burdon was chief executive of Thorntons from May 2000 to September 2006. Before that he was at Boots for 4½ years, mainly as trading director. He has also experience gained in Europe and Australia with McKinsey & Co.

He divides his time between Nottingham, where he spends his weekends with his family, and Huddersfield, at Instore's head office. He is married with five children and is a “fitness fanatic”.

Mr Burdon has a degree in chemical engineering from Manchester and earned an MBA in Australia.

Instore shares rose by 68 per cent yesterday, closing up 3.43p at 8.88p, giving a market value of about £20 million.