Imasco sweetened its offer to acquire Genstar.

Genstar said it received a sweetened offer with a current value of about $40.10 a share, or $1.62 billion, but said its directors took no immediate action on the proposal. Imasco, Canada’s largest cigarette producer, initiated its unsolicited offer for Genstar, a Canadian building materials and financial services concern, on Tuesday by offering $54 (Canadian) for each Genstar share. But Genstar said that shortly before its directors met Thursday to evaluate the bid, Imasco told the company it would lift the offer to $56 (Canadian) per share if the board was “prepared to endorse the offer now at that level.”