A consortium that owns 27.4 per cent of the UK’s last listed port operator is reported to have officially accepted defeat in its attempts to coax management to accept an acquisition offer. Forth Ports in March uncovered to have approached by a bid offer of £12.85 per share from the Northstream consortium in January and a subsequent offer worth £13.40. However, it had dropped both.

Northstream later extended a further bid offer of £14 – valuing the shares at £639m ($639m) – in April, however it again witnessed a rejection.

The Takeover Panel had framed a consortium marking a deadline for the bid as June 1. The consortium involving Arcus Capital included nearly 21 per cent of Forth shares, Peel Ports, holding 3 per cent, and the Rreef Pan-European Infrastructure Fund, which possesses another 3 per cent.

“In light of the current economic uncertainty and the resultant difficulty of valuing Forth Ports’ property assets from public information, the consortium is unable to justify increasing its proposed offer further,” Northstream quoted in a statement published following the market closure.

Forth’s shares were witnessed to trade at £11.14 prior to the March announcement. They registered a closing price raised by 60p touching £12.75 before Thursday’s announcement, however, are likely to mark a significant squeeze when trading starts on Friday.