U.S. hedge fund group Elliott Associates has raised its stake in Danish company Danisco to 4.9%  to put pressure on DuPont  to raise its bid for the food ingredients and enzymes maker, the Financial Times reported.

Elliott, which in February said it advised funds with about 1% of Danisco's stock, has rejected DuPont's 665 Danish crowns ($124.6) per share bid for Danisco as too low.

DuPont, which announced the 31.72 billion Danish crowns ($5.94 billion) friendly cash offer for Danisco in January, requires acceptance by Danisco shareholders with at least 90% of the stock to carry out the deal and delist Danisco. But Elliott and some other investors have rejected the bid, raising doubts about whether DuPont will succeed by April 29, the most recent deadline it has set for the offer.
The Financial Times said in its online edition that Elliott was "turning the screw over Danisco" and added that Elliott "predicted that DuPont would fall short of the 90%  acceptance level set as a condition for completing the deal when the offer expires on Friday."

"Elliott currently owns 4.9% of the share capital of Danisco and doesn't intend to tender any shares into the offer," the FT said, citing Elliott.

Officials at the companies could not be reached immediately for comment.

Danisco shareholders with only 6% of the stock had accepted DuPont's offer by the end of March when the U.S. chemicals group extended the takeover bid to April 29. But DuPont said on April 15 that Chinese regulators had approved the deal, removing the last regulatory hurdle after clearance by U.S. and European Union watchdogs, and said it was confident it would get the required acceptance from Danisco stockholders.

DuPont has repeatedly said its offer for Danisco is "full, fair and firm" and that it will not raise the bid, which was recommended to shareholders by Danisco's board.

Elliott, with a track record of shareholder activism, has been engaged in boardroom battles with, among others, Swiss biotech firm Actelion, which it has accused of eroding shareholder value and has called for a board shake-up and for Actelion to consider putting itself up for sale.