Lord Myners has predicted that "five or six" of Britain’s biggest publicly listed companies could be targeted by takeover bids this year, underscoring just how important it is that regulators enhance controls to protect the best interests of UK corporations.

Speaking to the Today programme on the BBC on Monday, Lord Myners, who was financial services secretary to the Treasury under Gordon Brown, said that “companies are not just assets to be traded” but are “assets to be built up”.

He said that in the UK, we work in a "permissive zone" where the fate of companies is generally decided by a small number of City financiers, and he likened the market to a "garage sale” in which “everything is up for sale if the price is right".

He said that in “almost every other country” other than the UK “there is a public purpose test to ensure that [any corporate] takeover works to the broader benefit of society" and that Britain needed to “take back control of our businesses".

Lord Myners specifically referred to US food giant Kraft Heinz’s failed takeover of Unilever last month, and said that the UK’s current Takeover Code was not robust enough to protect the best interests of domestic corporations when hostile takeover bids are launched.

The Anglo-Dutch consumer goods giant which is listed on the FTSE 100 in February rejected a $143bn (£115bn) takeover offer from Kraft, saying that it sees absolutely no “financial or strategic” merit in a tie-up.

Kraft, which is controlled by private equity firm 3G Capital and veteran financier Warren Buffett, is best known for brands like Philadelphia spread, Capri Sun soft drinks, HP Sauce and Heinz ketchup, while Unilever’s brands include Domestos, Dove and Persil.

A deal would have been the third-biggest takeover in history and the biggest ever acquisition of a UK-based company, according to Thomson Reuters data at the time.

The slump in sterling in the wake of last June’s Brexit vote has generally enhanced the appeal of UK-listed companies for those looking to buy from abroad.

“International buyers emerged as a real force to be reckoned with towards the end of last year, as overseas trade acquirers – most notably those from the US and Asia - acted opportunistically to take advantage of a weakened sterling,” said Andrew Nicholson, head of M&A at KPMG in the UK said in a report published last week.

The world’s most valuable brands Show all 10 1 /10 The world’s most valuable brands The world’s most valuable brands 1st - Google Google replaced Apple as the world’s most valuable brand, with a brand value of $109.5bn, according to Brand Finance The world’s most valuable brands 2nd - Apple Apple’s brand value declined from $145.9bn to $107.1bn in 2016 The world’s most valuable brands 3rd - Amazon Amazon's brand value rose from $69.6bn to $106.4bn in 2016 Amazon The world’s most valuable brands 4th - At&t Of the 40 telecoms brands in the ranking, AT&T in 2016 overtook Verizon as the most valuable brand rising to $87bn from $59.9bn the year before The world’s most valuable brands 5th - Microsoft Microsoft's brand value rose marginally from $67.3bn to $76.3bn in 2016 The world’s most valuable brands 6th - Samsung Amazon's brand value rose from $58.6bn to $66.2bn The world’s most valuable brands 7th - Verizon Verizon's brand value inched up from $63.1bn to $65.9bn The world’s most valuable brands 8th - Walmart Walmart's brand value rose from $53.6bn to $62.5bn The world’s most valuable brands 9th - Facebook Facebook's brand value increased sharply from $34bn to just shy of $62bn The world’s most valuable brands 10th - ICBC ICBC saw its brand value rise to $47.8bn from $36.3bn. It was the most valuabe financial brand in the world in 2016 replacing Wells Fargo

“With no sign of a bounce in the pound on the horizon, and the UK economy continuing to confound post-Referendum expectations, UK businesses will remain a target for hungry investors,” he added.