UPDATE 1-ThirdForce CEO and chairman bid for co, shares jump

* CEO, chairman bid for company

* Plan to delist company

* Shares up 21 pct to be top gainer in Dublin

(Adds shares, quote)

DUBLIN, Nov 9 (Reuters) - Irish e-learning company ThirdForce Plc (THF.I) said its chief executive and chairman had made a formal offer for the company, boosting its shares by 21 percent.

LearnVantage Plc -- an investment vehicle formed by Thirdforce's Chief Executive Brendan O'Sullivan and Chairman Pat McDonagh -- offered three payment options to shareholders:

Either one share in LearnVantage for each ThirdForce share; three LearnVantage shares and 0.12 euros in cash for every four ThirdForce shares; or 0.105 euros in cash for each ThirdForce share.

The cash offer valued ThirdForce at 27.2 million euros, said ThirdForce, which first announced in March it had received an approach from managers, initially at 8 cents per share.

Shares in ThirdForce traded 21.4 percent higher at 0.085 euros by 0950 GMT to be the top gainer in a 1.2 percent stronger Irish market .ISEQ.

"It is intended to cancel the trading of ThirdForce's shares on (London's) AIM and the IEX (in Dublin) and to re-register ThirdForce as a private limited company, following the offer," it said in a statement. (Reporting by Andras Gergely; Editing by David Holmes)