UNITED States General Electric is gearing up for a 3.5-billion-pound (US$5.3 billion) counterbid for British engineer Invensys that would trump last week's offer from France's Schneider Electric, a newspaper said yesterday.

A bid battle between GE and Schneider, two of the world's industrial giants, could drive up the offer price for Invensys to 550 pence a share, valuing the company at 3.6 billion pounds, Britain's The Sunday Times said.

Invensys said on Friday Schneider was considering an offer of 505 pence a share in cash and stock, 15 percent above Invensys' closing price on Thursday.

The Times said its sources had cautioned that there was no certainty GE would enter the bid race, but shares in Invensys rallied to a 10-year high on Friday on speculation Schneider's offer could flush out other bidders.

Invensys has long been mooted as a takeover target in an industry where larger rivals dominate.