Bernard Arnault, the chairman of LVMH, is understood to be lining up with Endemol’s French management for a bid for the producer of Deal Or No Deal and Big Brother.

Telefónica, the Spanish group which owns 75 per cent of the Amsterdam-listed production company, is preparing to begin a tightly-controlled auction within two weeks, and may allow just two rival groups to compete for Endemol, which is valued at €2.74bn ($3.6bn, £1.8bn).