ICELAND Frozen Foods chief executive Malcolm Walker has stepped up his bid to regain control of the company he founded in 1970.

He is reported to have opened negotiations with several banks, including Goldman Sachs, to fund the purchase of a controlling stake in the Deeside- based group.

It is currently 67% owned by failed Icelandic bank Landsbanki, whose liquidators are seeking a buyer for its stake.

Mr Walker and other directors own 24%, but he has a right to match any offer for the remaining shares.

The Landsbanki stock is believed to be valued at around £1.5bn.

Supermarket groups such as Morrisons, Sainsbury, Asda and the Co-operative are believed to be interested in bidding to gain access to Iceland’s 796-strong stores portfolio.

Iceland is the last major stores chain in the sector with a significant spread of locations that are proving attractive to supermarkets with ambitious expansion plans to challenge the supremacy of market leader Tesco. Mr Walker will do his utmost to resist the sale and break-up of the business, which earlier this month reported net pre-tax profits of £155.5m, up 14.8% on the previous year.

Both he and Goldman Sachs declined to comment on claims that he has held preliminary discussions to fund an approach to the liquidators that could involve an offer for the bank’s 67% holding, or enough of Landsbanki’s shares to give him a controlling majority.

He signalled his resistance to bids from rivals in the sector in a column he writes for industry journal Retail Week, saying: “It would not be so bad if the stories were about retailers hoping to get their hands on an iconic and successful British brand.

“But they are not. They’re about their desire to buy some or all of our 796 sites to fuel the expansion of their convenience store formats.”

Sources say a Goldman deal could follow a similar package for chicken processing tycoon Ranjit Boparan, when he bought Northern Foods in January. Goldman’s £400m bridging loan was repaid by the launch of a high-yield bond issue in America.