Troubled UK buyout firm Candover Investments has effectively moved towards "run-off ", a leading private equity analyst has said, after the company revealed it was planning to carry out sales of its investments in order to return money to shareholders.

Candover Investments said in its first half results today it was set to conduct an orderly sale of its portfolio through "portfolio realisations" in order to distribute "value to shareholders". The decision comes one and a half months after Canadian pension fund Alberta Investment Management Corporation withdrew its bid for the company.