The Investment Corporation of Dubai said on March 20 it has suspended its bid for troubled Spanish property group Colonial, saying the conditions for the sale have not been fulfilled.
"The conditions for the contract of sale of March 11, 2008 have not been fulfilled in order for it to come into effect," ICD, a sovereign wealth fund owned by the government of Dubai, said in a statement.
However, it left open the possibility of further negotiations.
"If there exists a possibility to reach an agreement with Colonial beyond the terms set on March 11, then (ICD) would consider such a possibility," it said in a brief statement to Spain's stock market regulator.
Colonial's two main shareholders - the group's former chairman Luis Portillo and realtor Nozar - said ICD was unable to reach a deal with creditor banks on the refinancing of Colonial's huge debt.
They said in a statement "there are no expectations that such an agreement will be reached." Under the terms of the deal unveiled by ICD last week, Colonial would have been split in two, with a new company set up to hold its real estate and finance businesses. ICD would then have acquired 50.4 percent of Colonial, buying the shares at 1.19 euros each from Portillo and Nozar.