Altadis, the Spanish-French tobacco group, on Tuesday rejected a €47 a share indicative approach from Britain’s Imperial Tobacco which it said did not reflect the company’s strategic value or its growth potential. The bid valued Altadis at about €12bn (£8.2bn, $16.1bn).

The approach was the second that Imperial has made within the past month for Altadis, whose brands include Gitanes and Habanos. Altadis had immediately knocked back the first €45 a share approach.