Hanson Trust stepped up its bid for Imperial.

The chairman of Hanson’s North American interests, Sir Gordon White, said the company, having won a bitter fight to acquire SCM Corp., would now pursue its $2.8-billion hostile takeover of British-based Imperial Group PLC. Imperial, a major tobacco and brewing company whose cigarette brands include John Player, rebuffed Hanson’s Dec. 9 offer as “unwelcome and totally inadequate.” SCM agreed Wednesday night to transfer control after Hanson, a London-based conglomerate, acquired more than 72% of its stock.