Safeway and Phillip Green will hold their first official meeting this week. The supermarket's sources said that Safeway wanted to assess how serious the retail entrepreneur's interest was.

The meeting had originally been suggested nearly three weeks ago after one of Green's advisers wrote to Safeway requesting further financial information. However, the supermarket maintained that it had already provided Green with the necessary information.

Green has resisted making a bid for Safeway despite being cleared by the Office of Fair Trading. It is thought he is waiting until the Takeover Panel rules whether rivals can make conditional bids while offers are examined by the Competition Commission.