One reported contender, Warwickshire businessman Michael Byng, is now out of the running, having missed last Friday's deadline for indicative offers.
Ally McCoist has been encouraged by news of interest in Rangers ahead of Friday's deadline for first indicative bids.
"I have set a deadline of 31 May for indicative offers from those parties".
Last month François Loos, France's industry minister, said 2009 was "an indicative date" for competition rather than a firm deadline.
"Following Friday's deadline, I have received a number of indicative offers for the assets of Coventry City FC Limited," said Appleton, from London-based David Rubin and Partners.
The 3.4-to-one offer, BHP's first official proposal made under a deadline imposed by U.K. regulators, is an improvement from an indicative overture in November in which it proposed a price of three to one, which was summarily rejected by Rio as too low.
It is understood to have received at least five indicative offers for the high street retailer as a going concern before the 5pm deadline on Tuesday.
The competitive evaluation process was launched earlier this year, with a deadline of 30 November for designers to present their bids, outlining designs, indicative costs and options for construction in Australia, overseas or a mix of both.
Teachers report being approached after the marking deadline with offers of double or triple pay to fast-track additional scripts: hardly indicative of a fully staffed system.
The information memorandum issued by Desmond's Northern & Shell on Channel 5, sent out to a wide range of media companies and private equity players putting the case for a £700m Channel 5 price tag, has set a deadline of 27 February for interested parties to submit a letter of intent with an indicative, non-binding offer.
Treat that as indicative.
