SHARES in Virgin Mobile soared by as much as 10 per cent yesterday despite the absence of an early bidding war after NTL announced its intention to bid £817 million in cash and shares for the group.

Sir Richard Branson, whose family controls 72 per cent of Virgin Mobile, yesterday saw his holding valued at £636 million.

The stake of Tom Alexander, chief executive of Virgin Mobile, who is expected to be offered a “senior role” at an enlarged group, was last night worth about £5 million.

Sources close to Virgin Mobile said that NTL is also keen to see Sir Richard as chairman of the merged group.

Banking sources estimated that advisers stand to pocket an estimated £50 million should the deal go through. Virgin Mobile is being advised by Morgan Stanley and NTL has appointed Goldman Sachs.

Despite NTL’s modest 3.9 per cent premium to Virgin Mobile’s closing price on Friday, private equity groups sought to distance themselves from speculation that they may seek to offer a counter bid.

Sources at Vodafone, BT, T-Mobile, the O2-owner Telefónica and the France Télécom-owner Orange also insisted last night that they had no interest in trumping NTL’s offer.

NTL offered to pay £817 million for Virgin Mobile, aiming to create a TV, internet, fixed-line and mobile phone powerhouse under the Virgin brand. NTL only recently announced plans to merge with Telewest, its cable rival. That merger is expected to be completed next year.

Under terms of the offer, which values each Virgin Mobile share at 323p in cash or 0.09298 shares of NTL, Sir Richard would become NTL’s largest shareholder with a 14 per cent stake.

He has told NTL that he would exchange his holdings for NTL shares, and perhaps a small portion in cash.

“We’d love to be involved with the creation of something very special, something quite large and something quite exciting,” he said.