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Forth Ports has rejected its third takeover offer in as many months from a group of its own shareholders.

The news of another bid from the consortium, headed by the rival ports operator John Whittaker, sent Forth’s shares soaring 99p to £13.42. Yet that is still some way short of yesterday’s £14 revised offer and the £14.17 that the shares touched earlier this month.

The board of Forth unanimously rejected the latest offer despite an attempt by the consortium to break the impasse with an alternative offer. It is made up mainly of cash but includes a financial instrument relating to the future value of Forth’s Edinburgh waterfront property interests.

A spokesman for the consortium said it was “flummoxed” by Forth’s continuing rejection. It challenged other shareholders to demand an explanation from the board at Forth’s annual meeting in Edinburgh tomorrow.

The Forth board said it had rejected the revised offer because it fell far short of the value of Forth Ports. Industry experts say that Forth fears falling to a competitor. Mr Whittaker’s Peel Ports owns Clydeport in Glasgow, Mersey Docks and the Medway Ports in the South East and has a reputation for buying companies on the cheap.

Forth, the owner and operator of six Scottish ports, including Grangemouth, Leith and Dundee, as well as Tilbury on the Thames Estuary, has been under siege from the consortium since January. The consortium, which speaks for 27.4 per cent of Forth’s stock, is made up of Arcus, the former Babcock & Brown infrastructure fund that owns 23 per cent of Forth; Peel Ports, which holds 3.5 per cent; and RReef, the Deutsche Bank property fund.

The consortium’s £14 offer plus a commitment to pay Forth’s 19.1p final dividend comes after a £13.40 offer last month, which itself had been increased from an opening bid of £12.85 at the end of January. At that time Forth Ports was trading at £11.22. The alternative offer envisages offering Forth shareholders £12.85 in cash plus a separate financial instrument tied to the value of the development assets, which the consortium puts at 115p.

Forth says its disused dockside holdings have huge unrealised potential for residential development as well as becoming centres for wood-burning power stations and the manufacture of turbines for the offshore windfarm and marine energy industry.

At tomorrow’s annual meeting, Charles Hammond, Forth’s chief executive, is expected to report a rise in trading to justify his continuing rejection of the consortium’s approaches.