Pelamis has received extensive support from the Scottish and UK governments, and has raised more than £40m ($62.6m) in funding since being founded in the late 1990s.

It is known to favour a buy-out by a UK business, such as defence company BAE Systems, engines giant Rolls-Royce or Weir, an engineering group.

However, the Edinburgh-based company is also understood to be in discussions with foreign players such as Caterpillar, Siemens, ABB and Alstom, according to the Financial Times.

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