Talpa, the investment vehicle of television producer John de Mol, said it is still in the running to acquire the Telegraaf Media Groep. Talpa is withdrawing its complaint about the management of TMG with Amsterdam company court and will file a formal bid this week it said in a statement at the weekend.

Amsterdam company court was to have heard the Talpa complaint on 15 June, but this now cancelled. That is the same day on which the bidding period for TMG expires, the Financieele Dagblad said on Monday.

The 11th hour announcement by Talpa means the very heated battle for TMG is not yet over. However a combine of the Belgian Mediahuis group and long-term big TMG shareholders the Van Puijenbroek family was expected to win the prize this week.

De Mol and his allies now hold about 30% of TMG shares, with the combine owning the remainder. But the combine’s offer is about 8% lower than the €6.50 per share bid made by Talpa.

DeMol/Talpa have said they want to merge their radio and television interests with TMG to create an ‘independent Dutch multimedia company’.

But if the Belgian acquisition goes ahead, all the main Dutch daily papers and many regional ones will be in the hands of two Belgian media groups. The Telegraaf is the biggest circulation Dutch daily.