An Iranian-born property tycoon mounted another share raid on Woolworths yesterday, taking his stake in the retailer to more than 10 per cent and stirring the Takeover Panel into action.

Shares in the troubled high street retailer surged by 9 per cent to 6.5p after it revealed that Ardeshir Naghshineh, the chairman and founder of Targetfollow Group, had bought another seven million shares to take his holding in the business to 10.2 per cent.

The Takeover Panel is believed to have contacted the tycoon yesterday to clarify his intentions amid speculation that he has been trying to organise a bid consortium.

The share swoop came as the Wellcome Trust, Britain's biggest charity, took a stake in Marks & Spencer (M&S) and Sir Tom Hunter, the retail entrepreneur, tabled an undisclosed bid for Flying Brands, the home shopping group, in a sign that investors are beginning to look for bargains in the retail sector.

Shares in retailers have plunged in the past year because of the credit crunch, with M&S trading nearly 60 per cent below the levels of a year ago and DSG International, the owner of Currys and PC World, down by 70 per cent.

The Wellcome Trust said that it had bought 39.35 million M&S shares in recent weeks, about 2.5 per cent, as a long-term strategic investment. The move blunted speculation that a possible bidder was circling M&S.

Shares in Flying Brands, best known for its Flying Flowers home delivery website, surged by more than 32 per cent to 17.5p. Flying Brands characterised Sir Tom's approach as “very preliminary”.

Mr Naghshineh is estimated to be worth £500 million and is best known as the owner of the Centre Point tower block in Central London. His business empire, which is based in Norwich, has nearly £300 million of assets and has grown significantly in recent years.

Analysts said yesterday that the complex nature of the Woolworths business and the leasehold nature of its estate of 800 high street stores probably meant that Mr Naghshineh would want to build a consortium to break up the retailer rather than bid outright for the group.

One trader speculated that Mr Naghshineh may simply want to ensure that he has first refusal on the more lucrative shop leases if Woolworths is broken up.

Baugur, the Icelandic investment group and a shareholder in the business, has long been touted as another possible bidder.

Woolworths conceded last week that it was unlikely to make full-year pre-tax profit targets of £25 million in a bleak profit warning. Like-for-like sales at the group's stores have fallen by nearly 7 per cent in recent weeks, and its market value has fallen to £94 million.

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