Betfair bid 'could have been a contender Richard Koch, who owns 6.4pc of the company, had teamed up with private equity firm CVC to bid for the betting exchange group. Having held out a possible 975p a share, they were given access to the Betfair chief only in the few hours before the "put up or shut up" deadline. "He was put in a very difficult position," said Mr Koch, giving his first interview since the bid collapsed. He admitted it was "probably a mistake" that the bidders had no alternative management team but believed a deal could have been done if the board, led by chairman Gerald Corbett, had allowed a longer extension than 24 hours. The company took the view that either we had a deal within 24 hours or 48 hours, or we didn't. And that may have been unfortunate. It could have been extended," he said. Mr Koch claimed the bidders had the backing of "more than 50pc of the shareholders" and that Mr Corcoran had admitted the two sides were "not a million miles apart" on strategy. "If we had had time to sit down and talk and have a proper look at the numbers, we would have reached agreement pretty easily," he said. He ruled out any short-term attempt to revive the bid, but said it had achieved results. The share price is higher and it has changed the perception of the company. And some of the issues we raised - particularly gearing - will have to be addressed. Betfair shares closed at 808p on Friday, down 12.