Last August, Coles, the Australian retailer, bluntly rejected a takeover approach led by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, the US private equity firm.

KKR offered to sweeten its bid to A$18.2bn (US$27.7bn), but eventually walked away only to return just four months later. In February, Coles not only agreed to talk to KKR but turned the process into an auction that is almost certain to result in Australia’s largest buy-out transaction, topping A$20bn.