Qatari investment group Delta Two has made a bid approach to J Sainsbury Plc which values Britain's third-biggest supermarket group at about 12 billion pounds ($24.5 billion), newspapers said on Wednesday.

Delta Two, which already owns about 25 percent of Sainsbury, has signalled it is prepared to offer 610 pence a share for the rest of the business, the newspapers said.

J Sainsbury has confirmed that it had received a preliminary bid approach from Delta Two. The company said in a statement it would make a further announcement, as appropriate, in due course.

Meanwhile, the Financial Times quoted people close to the situation as saying the Sainsbury family, which owns around 18 percent of the business, was unsupportive of the proposal.

Earlier this year, the family was instrumental in sinking a 582-pence-a-share proposal from private equity firm CVC Capital Partners.  -Reuters