NEW moves are afoot for the Clarke family to wrestle back sole control of the massive Silentnight Group.

A second bid has been launched by the family to take the beds and furniture giant back into private hands by buying up all the shares it does not already own.

Clarkes Mattresses was founded by the late Tom Clarke in 1946 and renamed Silentnight Ltd in 1951 following a move from Skipton to Barnoldswick. It became a public company in 1973.

Today the Silentnight Group is the market leader in beds and assembled furniture. However, the acquisition of furniture companies Parker Knoll and Ducal and their troubled integration into the group's operation, has led to some difficult times for Silentnight.

Last August the Clarke family, which still owns more than 50 per cent of the group's shares, launched a bid to take the company back into private hands, indicating it would offer 190p per share to buy the shares it did not already own.

That offer was rejected by then chief executive Bill Simpson and chairman Keith Ackroyd, acting on the recommendation of the group's independent financial advisers.

They claimed that the offer significantly undervalued the company. It sparked a boardroom bust-up which culminated in Simpson and Ackroyd leaving the business.

Since then Silentnight's share price has continued to fall, with the group announcing a pre-tax loss of £11.2 million earlier this year.

Again, that was blamed on restructuring the furniture business.

Now the Clarke family has made a second indicative offer to buy the shares it doesn't own at 140p per share valuing the company at around £65 million.

The new offer has come via the Clarke family company, Soundersleep Limited, which owns 50.8 per cent of the issued share capital of Silentnight Holdings, giving it a controlling interest.

That means the family could force through its agenda, but chief executive Nino Allenza pledged that wouldn't happen. He said the offer would only be accepted if it met with the approval of the company's independent directors, chairman Roger Pedder and finance director David Adam.