J Sainsbury's £3.4bn (€4.9bn) pension fund has undermined a second private equity bid for its parent in nine months, after the Qatari-backed investor Delta Two walked away from its £10.6bn offer for the company this morning. The deal marked one of the first times trustees had been directly and formally brought into negotiations over a takeover approach.

In a statement, Delta Two said its decision "reflected a combination of factors including the deterioration of credit markets which impacted the terms of lending ... and the arrangements for the future funding of the Sainsbury pension schemes."