Connells has completed its due diligence work on Countrywide and reconfirmed its offer of 250p cash per share.

Connells announced earlier this month that it has made an indicative approach to Countrywide in relation to a possible all-cash offer for Countrywide, subject to determining “the feasibility of making a firm offer for Countrywide”.

The group is now ready to make a firm offer and is awaiting Countrywide board recommendation and shareholder support.

Countrywide is already the subject of a £90m bid from Alchemy.

But Connells said that due diligence revealed that significant capital investment is required, in excess of the levels envisaged under the Alchemy proposal.

It pointed out that no alternative proposal to address Countrywide’s urgent need for a recapitalisation has been announced, ‘with the exception of the discredited proposal from Alchemy’.

It added that Countrywide faces a number of significant risks as a standalone business, with ‘potential to enter administration without a significant capital injection’.

Connells insist that its proposal would offer a ‘significant and tangible upside’ to Countrywide shareholders through a cash premium today, which is ‘far more attractive than the theoretical, distant and risky prospect of potential future benefits under a standalone strategy’.

David Livesey, the Connells Group chief executive, said: “Countrywide shareholders have repeatedly been promised jam tomorrow and it has never been delivered.  There is no quick and easy fix for Countrywide. Turning the business around, especially in unpredictable market conditions, will be a difficult, expensive and lengthy process.

“Countrywide needs new ownership, not yet another speculative scheme that is based on hope rather than experience.  Our proposal gives Countrywide shareholders significant immediate upside in cash, at a 72% premium to the undisturbed price, with none of the downside risks of remaining independent.”