LONDON (AP) - Danish beer maker Carlsberg A/S and its Dutch rival Heineken NV must formalise their multi-billion-pound joint offer for Scottish & Newcastle plc. (S&N) by today or abandon the bid altogether, Britain's takeover regulator said yesterday.

The takeover panel extended the deadline, originally set for yesterday, after S&N, Britain's largest brewer, requested a delay for the panel's "put up or shut up" deadline, which imposes a time limit on would-be buyers to clarify their intentions.

The deadline forces Carlsberg and Heineken to come up with a concrete proposal for S&N or formally drop their offer, which would prevent them from making a new bid for the company for six months.

Last week, the two brewers said they had entered talks with S&N about potentially increasing their offer to £7.8 billion ($15.13 billion; euro10.38 billion), although they warned the offer was not for certain.