Jan. 24 (Bloomberg) -- Carlsberg A/S and Heineken NV rose on speculation the brewers may pull out of a joint offer for competitor Scottish & Newcastle Plc, which dropped.

Carlsberg gained as much 9.3 percent, the most since May 2002, in Copenhagen trading. Heineken added as much as 4.6 percent, the largest climb in six months, in Amsterdam. Scottish & Newcastle dropped as much as 8.4 percent, its biggest slide in almost two decades, in London.

Carlsberg, the largest Nordic brewer, and Dutch counterpart Heineken last week raised their proposed bid to 7.8 billion pounds ($15.3 billion), the third increase since their initial approach in October. The suitors must say by noon London time today whether they plan to make a formal bid, a deadline set by the U.K. Takeover Panel.

``We're seeing a clear stock-market reaction showing there's speculation that Carlsberg's deal may be falling through,'' Soeren Moeller Soerensen, head of equities at Amagerbanken in Copenhagen, said by telephone. ``Tension is mounting up to the deadline.''

Carlsberg doesn't comment on speculation, spokesman Jens Peter Skaarup said today by telephone when asked whether the company would make a bid. John Kiely, a spokesman for Edinburgh- based Scottish & Newcastle, declined to comment.

Carlsberg rose as much as 52 kroner to 610 kroner and was up 3.1 percent at 575 kroner at 10:45 a.m. in Copenhagen. Heineken added 3 percent to 39.08 euros after climbing as high as 39.71 euros. Scottish & Newcastle fell 2.2 percent to 718.5 pence, rebounding from a drop as low as 673.5 pence.

To contact the reporter on this story: Christian Wienberg in Copenhagen at cwienberg@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: January 24, 2008 04:50 EST