Castorama has called off legal moves in the French courts to frustrate the €5bn ($4.6bn) bid from Kingfisher, in the latest twist in the takeover battle between the French and UK retail groups.

Castorama's A general partners, a group of directors who effectively run Castorama, dropped the action in the Lille Commercial Court. They had originally claimed that Kingfisher's bid for the 44.5% of Castorama it does not already own breached the terms of an original agreement between the two firms in 1998.