Private hospital firm Spire Healthcare has given Toscafund more time to formalise its £1billion takeover bid. It is the fourth time it has extended the deadline since the firm made its first approach in May. Put up or shut up: Spire Healthcare has granted Toscafund more time to finalise a £1bn bidToscafund, set up in 2000 by Hughes – known as ‘the Rottweiler’ for his aggressive dealmaking – is Spire’s second-largest shareholder. Spire runs 38 hospitals and more than 60 clinics in England and Wales. Shares in Spire rose 0.21 per cent to 235.5p this morning, after gaining 39.4 per cent this year.