A £300m sale of Scottish property company Kenmore has collapsed owing to problems in the global capital markets.
The Edinburgh-based company, which is majority-owned by chairman John Kennedy, has ended negotiations with Australian-listed trust Mirvac after four months of talks.
A source close to the deal said: “The markets have given Mirvac a fright, and it wanted more time.
“It is a public company, and sometimes it’s easier to sit on your hands than make a ballsy shout during a rocky period.
“The business rationale was right because it would have helped Mirvac’s strategic aims. Its stronger balance sheet would have helped Kenmore accelerate into Europe and the Middle East.”
As revealed by Estates Gazette, Mirvac started talks to buy a majority stake in Kenmore, which has £1.5bn of assets under management, before the summer credit problems.
The takeover approach was part of new chief executive Greg Paramor’s shake-up plans to boost international expansion.
Mirvac, which has A$27bn (£11.6bn) of activities under its control, would have followed in the footsteps of rival listed trusts that have been buying UK companies as platforms for a European expansion.
In a July statement to the Australian stock market, Mirvac admitted that it was “investigating a range of domestic and international opportunities.”
Earlier this month, Mirvac’s UK-based subsidiary, Chantrey, announced it had completed the capital raising for a £165m city regeneration fund to invest in residential development opportunities in the South East.
