WestLB has ditched another financing deal just days after it emerged that the German bank has tightened up its lending procedures, and eight days before the deal was due to be agreed.

The German bank was in line to finance a bid by Bream Investments, a special-purpose vehicle, to buy AWG, the UK utility. But the bank blamed the lack of a recommendation by AWG and the lack of access to further information from the company for preventing it from increasing its offer.