Persimmon is rumoured to be in talks to buy Westbury in a deal that would see the company become Britain’s largest housebuilder by sales volume. Persimmon apparently placed a bid priced at around 560p a share, valuing Westbury at £638 million, but this has apparently been rejected as too low. Shares in Westbury closed last week at 494p, having climbed 21p on Friday. Westbury sold 4,361 homes in its last financial year and is on course to make £100 million profit this year. Persimmon sold 12,360 in 2004. If a takeover goes ahead, the resulting company would be expected to sell around 17,000 units per year - ahead of the 14,351 Barratt sold in its last financial year. Westbury has been tipped as an acquisition target for several years, and speculation increased when it reported a 26% drop in half year profits at the end of last month. If Persimmon does manage to acquire Westbury the company could enter the FTSE 100 index in next month’s reshuffle.