Scottish & Newcastle, the owner of Foster’s beer and Newcastle Brown Ale, on Thursday neared the end of a three-month takeover battle as it opened talks with Carlsberg and Heineken at 800p per share, paving the way for Heineken to become Britain’s largest brewer.

Carlsberg and Heineken initially approached S&N in mid-October with an informal offer of 720p a share, more recently raised to 780p.