GE Capital, which is seen as one of the front-runners to bid over Pounds 650 million for Woodchester Investments, has continued its quick-fire expansion in Europe with the acquisition of two leasing companies in Switzerland and the UK.

And, according to GE Capital's president of its European operations, Mr Christopher Mackenzie, another acquisition in the vehicle leasing business will probably be announced this week. Speaking to the Wall Street Journal, Mr Mackenzie did not give any details of this latest acquisition, but it will undoubtedly fuel speculation that it is Woodchester.

However, sources close to Woodchester said there is no question of any bid being accepted as early as this week. "Very shortly, it will probably become known who the actual bidders are, after that it will be just down to price." The source added that acceptance of a final bid would follow shortly after that.

Two weeks ago four companies were invited to submit formal bids for Woodchester and two of these, GE Capital and ATT Capital, were seen as clear front-runners to buy Credit Lyonnais's 54 per cent in Woodchester and make a mandatory bid for the minority shareholdings. Others mentioned as possible bidders include Ford Credit, ABN-AMRO and Woolwich.

The sale of Woodchester is being conducted by Woodchester's advisers, Chase Manhattan and Goldman Sachs. Once a formal bid is made for Woodchester, it will have the distinction of being the first bid to come under the scrutiny of the Irish Takeover Panel, which takes over the regulation of takeovers involving Irish public companies today.

GE Capital did not state how much it paid for the Swiss car leasing and consumer credit company, Bank Aufina - a subsidiary of Union Bank of Switzerland. But it did confirm paying Pounds 68 million sterling for TLS, a British leasing company specialising in trucks and commercial vehicles

In the past month, GE Capital has announced a string of acquisitions, including ARO Lease in Belgium, BRS Car Lease in the UK and IMP Lease in the Czech Republic. The acquisition of Woodchester would strengthen GE Capital's presence in the British market, and give it a large chunk of the Irish market.