Limitless recently issued a statement to the stock exchange, in which it had said that it was unsuccessful in obtaining the necessary consents on terms satisfactory to Limitless from a third party and thus it does not intend to make an offer anymore. 

During the month of July, an announcement related to 160-a-share approach for Minerva was made, and during the annual results last week, Minerva said that discussions with Limitless were proceeding and also that it understood due diligence was “substantially complete”. But the company warned, “There can be no certainty of an offer forthcoming.”

There had been a long suspicion in the mind of the market that deal may not happen and Minerva’s share price has stayed quite below the offer price after falling over 250p in 2007. Shares in the company were down 40.5 to 40 by early afternoon trading on Friday. 

The annual results of Minerva displayed the continuing fall in the commercial property market as it recorded a pre-tax loss of £269.2m, compared to a £16.2m profit last year, and a 33pc fall in net asset value to £372.2m.  

It was informed by Limitless, that it possessed the right to make another offer for Minerva if the situations changed or some other group made an offer for the company. According to analysts, Minerva should be able to continue trading in spite of the setback. 

It was reported by analysts at Cazenove, “Whilst this is clearly not our preferred outcome to the situation, we remain of the opinion that Minerva will be able to continue developing out the current schemes and is, at least in the short to medium term, solvent.”