EGL Inc said a buyout group led by Chief Executive Officer James Crane boosted its offer for the freight-management company again, to US$46.25 a share, extending a bidding war with Apollo Management LP.

EGL disclosed the Crane group's offer on Friday in a US regulatory filing that included a letter from the CEO with the new bid. A spokesman for Houston-based EGL didn't return calls for comment, and an Apollo spokesman declined to comment.

Crane's letter didn't give a total dollar amount for its bid. Apollo, a buyout firm led by Leon Black, values its $46-a-share offer at US$1.95 billion, including fully diluted shares and options due at closing, and EGL had given Crane's group until the end of business alst Wednesday to top it. A board committee said it would recommend that directors enter into a sale agreement with Apollo, which set a last Friday deadline for EGL to respond to its offer, Bloomberg News said.

New offer

The new offer from Crane continues a five-month battle over EGL, which manages freight shipments for businesses. The bidding war drove up the price of EGL shares more than 50 percent and added more than US$750 million to the takeover price.

Crane, the company's founder and biggest shareholder, with a 17 percent stake, kicked off the bidding on January 2 when he offered US$36 a share, or US$1.2 billion, to take EGL private. EGL agreed to be sold to Crane's group on March 19 at a sweetened price of US$38 a share, or US$1.7 billion.

Apollo challenged the sale in a lawsuit, saying EGL didn't consider Apollo's US$40-a-share bid and then boosted that offer to US$41 a share. On May 3, without waiting for Crane to respond to the US$41 offer, Apollo raised its bid to US$43 a share.

Crane countered on May 11, raising his bid to US$45 a share. The following day, Apollo offered US$46.

Apollo extended the bid through its Ceva Logistics unit to the "close of business" last Friday, without giving a time.

Ceva, based in Hoofddorp, the Netherlands, has said it wants to use EGL to expand its freight forwarding business and plans to keep EGL's Houston headquarters.