Rendina, the management buyout vehicle bidding for Alphyra, has taken the unusual step of declaring its offer unconditional ahead of the final closing date, after receiving acceptances from investors holding 75.4 per cent of the shares.

This means that shareholders who had accepted the €2.70 per share offer as of yesterday will receive payment by March 21st.

The offer will remain open to shareholders until further notice, allowing Rendina the chance to reach the 80 per cent threshold that would allow it to compulsorily acquire all outstanding shares.

But even if it does not reach that level, it now has control of the 75 per cent of the shares it needs to pass the special resolutions required to take the company private.

Rendina, which includes Alphyra's 10-member management team led by chief executive Mr John Nagle, said last night it would seek to cancel the company's stock market listing "as soon as it is appropriate and possible to do so".

The shares are listed in both Dublin and London.

Usually, bidders for a company wait until they reach the 80 per cent level before declaring their offer unconditional.

But sources close to Rendina said last night that it felt 75 per cent was "a critical level and once we reached that, we were delighted to declare the offer unconditional".

The offer was not due to close until next Thursday.

Mr Barry Maloney of Benchmark Capital, the private equity group financing the bid, also said last night that "by declaring the offer unconditional ahead of the final closing date announced for next Thursday, Rendina has brought to an end any uncertainty for Alphyra shareholders".

Last night's announcement could also be seen as an attempt to wrap up what has been a controversial MBO process, with much shareholder anger over management's behaviour in relation to rival bidders.

Some observers felt the offer would go right down to the wire, with the possibility that the MBO would fall short of the 80 per cent threshold by the final closing date.