Under the long-awaited deal, Castle Bidco, a consortium that also includes banking group , is paying 620p a share. The offer is backed by Crest’s board. The bidders also get the right to a 9.7p declared by .

The offer, a 10% premium to the closing price on 9 November, the day before Crest revealed it had received an approach, comes just one day ahead of a deadline to agree a deal insisted upon by the City Takeover Panel.

The Panel had given the consortium until 5pm this evening to issue a formal offer or walk away. Crest had previously rejected a 585p-a-share offer from Castle but it has long been regarded as a likely bid target.

It fought off a takeover attempt from Heron International last year. Sir Tom’s West Coast Capital firm and HBOS are familiar partners following their acquisition last year of retirement home specialist McCarthy & Stone for 1.1bn.

Castle Bidco already holds a 23% stake in Crest Nicholson which it bought from Heron. The takeover extends the run of dealmaking in the sector following the recent 2.2bn offer for by .

Crests, which operates in the South-East, South-West and the Midlands, recently announced record profits of 99m on sales for the year of 690m.

The company said it sees no reason why the housing market should not maintain steady growth. Chairman John Matthews said of the deal: ‘The board see it as a positive development for the business.’

Other stories:
2bn battle for control of Wilson Bowden
Bid war for Wilson Bowden begins
Crest Nicholson rejects 660m bid
Gladedale set for 500m raid on rivals

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