THE Government's decision to block Interbrew's massive £2.3bn takeover of Bass's brewing business will cost the Belgian brewer £760m - and it now plans to take the move to the courts, it emerged yesterday.

Interbrew said it would seek a judicial review of the decision reached earlier this month by Trade Secretary Stephen Byers, that the group must instead sell the business to an officially approved buyer.

Chief executive Hugo Powell criticised Mr Byers' decision as "significantly disproportionate" in relation to the prospective adverse effects identified by the Competition Commission when it looked into the deal. He said the decision was also "unnecessarily inflexible in failing to take into account the rapidly-changing environment in our industry".

Mr Powell said he was seeking an agreement from the courts to grant Interbrew more time to find a buyer and to make the business more competitive and efficient, and so a more attractive sale opportunity.

The brewer, best known for its Stella Artois brand, has set aside £760m as a one-off charge to this year's accounts as a result of the DTI decision.

The Office of Fair Trading denied a six-month deadline had been imposed. Mr Powell said informal discussions with the OFT, which must approve the sale, about candidates had resulted in a shorter than hoped for short-list.

He suggested that there were four possible UK candidates and lots of international brewers which might be interested in buying the business and getting a foothold in the UK.