Sky News has learnt that Ingenico Group, which is listed on the Euronext stock exchange in Paris, has submitted an offer worth that sum in recent days.

The proposal could persuade Worldpay's owners to abort plans for a stock market listing that would catapult the company into the FTSE-100, with a decision expected to be made in the next week, according to a source close to the Ingenico bid.

The French company's offer also included a proposal for a substantial break fee which would be handed to Worldpay if the takeover was subsequently abandoned, the source added.

Insiders said on Wednesday that Ingenico had lined up BNP Paribas, JP Morgan and Morgan Stanley to work alongside HSBC, Natixis and Societe Generale on the financing of its offer.

The revised proposal underlines Ingenico’s determination to merge with Worldpay and create a payments giant worth more than £11bn.

The French company’s cash bid would require the approval of and substantial funding from its existing shareholders in the form of a rights issue, meaning that it would not be endorsed until towards the end of the year.

Worldpay’s shareholders, Advent International and Bain Capital, are discussing the revised Ingenico bid alongside the merits of an initial public offering, with other takeover interest now understood to be on the periphery of the British company's considerations.

If Advent and Bain opt for a public listing, Worldpay would be propelled straight into the FTSE-100 index.

The British payments group is performing strongly, with recently published unaudited results for the first half of this calendar year showing a 13% rise in underlying earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation to £182.6m.

Philip Jansen, Worldpay's chief executive, said the results reflected its "ongoing focus on investing in technology and building our business, developing new and innovative products and meeting the evolving needs of our customers to help them prosper".

"Our continued investment in technology and customer service is complemented by a number of new and exciting products launched during 2015. Combined with Worldpay’s global reach and capability this creates significant opportunities to continue to grow our business," he said.

This month, Sir Mike Rake, the City grandee, took over as Worldpay's chairman from John Allan, the new chairman of Tesco.