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U.S. chemicals company E.I. DuPont de Nemours & Co.'s (DD) raised bid for Danish food ingredients and enzymes manufacturer Danisco A/S (DCO.KO) received key support Saturday, as one of Danisco's two largest shareholders chose to break its silence and back the offer, which values the company at $6.64 billion.

"I think it's a very attractive offer, and we intend to accept it," head of equity investments at Danish pension fund ATP, Claus Wiinblad told Dow Jones Newswires in a telephone interview.

ATP, which holds a 5% stake in Danisco, had declined to comment on the initial offer, thereby lending indirect support to the group of industrial investors that had called for a higher offer price.

Friday night, 15 minutes before the offer period expired, DuPont chose to raise its cash offer to DKK700 a share, from DKK665 previously, and extended the acceptance period to May 13. It also lowered the 90% acceptance rate on which it had conditioned the offer to 80%.

"We had chosen to remain silent, because it appeared clear to us early in the process that it would be very difficult for DuPont to reach the 90%, and because we believed we could achieve a higher price," Wiinblad said.

ATP had been in a continuous dialogue with DuPont ahead of the offer revision Friday, Wiinblad said. ATP had communicated its views of what an acceptable offer would be, he said, and while he declined to detail ATP's position in the talks, Wiinblad underlined that the pension fund is very pleased with the final offer.

"We have reached a price level now, where I think there's a good chance that the deal will go through. We have an offer now that we are happy to back," Wiinblad said.

DuPont chose to raise its offer after it had to acknowledge the initial offer would fall significantly short of the needed 90% acceptance rate. At 1500 GMT Friday, five hours before the offer period was due to expire, shareholders representing merely 48.2% of the share capital had accepted the offer.

The revised offer was also received well Saturday by Danisco's supervisory board chairman, Joergen Tandrup, who told Danish broadcaster TV2 News that the board strongly urges the investors to accept the offer.

"I clearly advise our shareholders to take this offer. It's extremely attractive, and a further raise is out of the question. This is the final bid," Tandrup said.

"It's unrealistic that Danisco would be able to support a share price of DKK700 in a stand-alone scenario," he said.

DuPont had placed its bid back in January, and the offer period had already been extended twice before Friday, while the proposed deal awaited regulatory approvals. According to the rules imposed by the Danish financial market authority, Finanstilsynet, the offer can only be extended three times. DuPont also stated in a statement Friday that the revised offer is "the best and final offer".

"This is the very last shot in the rifle," Wiinblad concluded. "There's nothing more to get. We hope it will be accepted," he said.

The position of Danisco's other key shareholder, U.S. hedge fund Elliott, has still not been communicated. Elliott which had been very vocal in its call for a higher offer price, has stocked up its stake in the past weeks to just above 5%. Regardless of Elliott's view on the new offer, however, ATP's backing and the lowered acceptance rate condition, has made it considerably more difficult for unhappy investors to block the deal.

If DuPont is successful with its revised offer, it will be the largest acquisition the chemicals giant has made since 1999.

Danisco's share price has risen 31% since the start of the year, and closed up 2.1% on Friday, at DKK668.

-By Flemming Emil Hansen, Dow Jones Newswires; +45 33 12 44 88; flemming.hansen@dowjones.com