The revaluation, the first public disclosure by an Eversholt shareholder, confirms that the leasing companies were sold cheaply.Analysts said that Electra was being conservative even after the revaluation and that its 21 per cent stake in Eversholt could be worth several times the pounds 34m at which it is now in the books.The disclosure is also likely to reinforce speculation about the future of both Eversholt and Angel, the two remaining independent train leasing companies. The three leasing firms together own the entire rolling stock of the rail network.Angel, which is controlled by Nomura, the Japanese securities house, has already disclosed that it is looking for a partner.But Michael Stoddart, chairman of Electra, which was one of half a dozen venture capital funds that backed the management buyout of Eversholt, said there were no plans to put the stake up for sale.The valuation does not disclose the split between equity and debt in Electra's holding, so it is not clear what the equity portion is worth. However, Porterbrook was financed mainly by debt so that when it was sold to Stagecoach, the bus operator, the small amount of equity soared in value.This brought a pounds 65m profit to three directors who took part in the original buyout. Eversholt, which was bought for pounds 585m, is also thought to be highly geared.Mr Stoddart, who was announcing an 18.5 per cent in Electra's net asset value over the year to September to pounds 886m, also warned that the price of management buyouts in which it specialised had risen sharply, and a lot were being sold by auction.. The acrimonious tit-for-tat exchange of statements between specialist engineer Fairey and its pounds 51m bid target, measuring instruments maker Burnfield, continued yesterday. Brian McGowan, Burnfield's chairman, reiterated his call for shareholders to ignore the one-for-four share offer launched by Fairey on Tuesday.

Further action is expected today with sources expecting Fairey to issue its official offer document, which will set the 60-day bid clock ticking. Mr McGowan said: "This offer is an attempt to force shareholders to agree to an unacceptably low price within a limited time period at the expense of the future benefits that the board expects the recent restructuring and the proposed acquisition of LDS will bring."Fairey's hostile approach is conditional on Burnfield shareholders voting against their company's proposed acquisition of LDS, a privately owned vibration equipment group, and a proposed rights issue to fund the purchase. Burnfield shareholders are due to vote on the deal and cash call at an extraordinary meeting on 30 December.Burnfield said: "Shareholders should not be diverted from the attractions of the LDS acquisition nor be misled over its beneficial impact on Burnfield. The board is pleased to have negotiated the acquisition of a high quality business which will have such a strategic impact on the group."Burnfield said Fairey had made much of the price it proposed to offer, but it claimed the 135p cash-alternative offer represented a premium of only 23 per cent to its price just before the announcement last week of the planned acquisition and rights issue.Fairey said Burnfield was wrong to use that price as a basis for comparison because it failed to account for the short-term dilution the acquisition would imply to its eps. Fairey said its offer represented a 48 per cent premium to Burnfield's price just before it made its bid.. Hopes that the traditional Christmas share spree is about to enliven the stock market were rekindled by the sudden outbreak of takeover fever.

Five bids in two days was the sort of medicine needed after the uncertainty created by Alan Greenspan, chairman of the US Fed. Footsie scored a 38.6-point gain to 4,018.2 in often busy trading. Although relief at the US stand-still on interest rates was tempered by fears of a domestic increase in the new year, Footsie ended at its best level of the day with second-and third-line shares also joining the party. The unexpected Canadian assault on Clyde Petroleum and the US Entergy's descent on London Electricity increased the excitement already generated by FKI's bid for Newman Tonks and Fairey's move for Burnfield.Clyde, which quickly rejected the pounds 432m shot from Canada's Gulf Resources, jumped above the bid price to 118.5p.The oil sector has looked ripe for takeover action with the likes of Lasmo in the front line. The appearance of the Canadian predator underlined the suspicion that a round of corporate action could develop.The Clyde battle lifted Cairn Energy 21.5p to 411.5p; Hardy Oil & Gas 23.5p to 296.5p and Monument Oil & Gas 4p to 65p.Enterprise Oil, up 24p to 595.5p, and Lasmo, 7.5p to 227p, were also engulfed in the oil flare.London Electricity, the latest regional to fall, accepted a 705p a share offer; the shares gained 13p to 696.5p.The two remaining electricity groups still without a suitor, Southern and Yorkshire, edged ahead by a few coppers; their days of independence seem numbered. The London Electricity deal occurred a few hours before Ian Lang, President of the Board of Trade, cleared the Dominion Resources offer for East Midlands Electricity.The green light was expected after the clearance of CE Electric's bid for Northern Electric and it would be strange indeed if the Entergy offer failed to clear the Whitehall hurdle.The other bid involved ADT, Michael Ashcroft's security group which is now based in Bermuda and is on the fringe of the market.The shares rose 162.5p to 1,375p in response to a bid from Western Resources which already has 27 per cent.Abbey National jumped 14.5p to 736.5p, a high.