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Africa's biggest company has made a bid to buy a quarter of Nampak, the South African group which runs a number of UK plants.

Services group Bidvest, which is also based in South Africa, yesterday said it would offer one Bidvest share for every 7.5 Nampak shares and would make the offer by the afternoon of 17 September.

It is looking to buy 25% of Nampak, which is listed on the Johannesburg stock exchange and has annual sales of more than £1bn. Its offer values Nampak at around £700m (SAR10bn) and would add to a 5% stake in the firm that it already owns.

Under the terms of the offer, Bidvest will only go through with the deal if it can take control of at least 20% of Nampak.

In a statement yesterday, Nampak said that its board would meet early next week to discuss the offer and warned shareholders to be cautious when dealing in its shares.

Bidvest is Africa's biggest company by turnover, with sales of £4.6bn, and has recently stated its intention to double in size by 2010.

It operates worldwide in a diverse range of sectors including freight management, food, electrical products, automotive retailing, packaging closures and office products.