A new bid for Marks & Spencer could come from Philip Green, the Bhs and Arcadia owner, by the end of the week. Following a letter from Green's bid vehicle revival Acquisition last week, David Norgrove, chair of pension trustees, will meet committee members to discuss Mr Green's requests for information from the pension fund.

Green wants to know the size of M&S's pension deficit and how much a bidder would be expected to have to pay up front in order to ensure the fund can meet its obligations. A spokesman for the M&S fund trustees told The Times: "The trustees will meet in the next few days and, while there is no timetable, a response could be made by the end of the week."

Meanwhile, M&S chief executive Stuart Rose is putting the finishing touches on the details of his strategy to generate a sales recovery at M&S, due to be revealed at the start of next week. The issue for Green is whether to wait to gauge City reaction to that announcement, or to make his next move first. Green's most recent conditional bid approach, valuing the business at GBP8.4bn, was quickly rejected by the M&S board.

However, there are indications that major institutional shareholders, including US fund Brandes, expect the board to give stronger consideration to any increased bid. However, M&S is reported to to be considering cash to shareholders through a sale and leaseback programme of property. That might be enough to persuade shareholders to give Rose the time he needs to make the recovery strategy pay off.