London, March 28 - British pubs group Punch Taverns said on Friday it was withdrawing its bid proposal for rival Mitchells & Butlers, but that it was still considering a joint offer with a third party.
"Preliminary discussions with, and preliminary due diligence on, Mitchells & Butlers have led the board of Punch to conclude that the terms proposed to Mitchells & Butlers are no longer in the best interests of Punch shareholders," Punch said in a statement.
It added that it was assessing approaches "by a number of third parties" in relation to a possible offer for Mitchells & Butlers.
British newspapers have reported that Punch has held talks with private equity giants Blackstone and CVC about teaming up to make a bid for M&B.
Punch Chief Executive Giles Thorley is chairman of Blackstone-owned Tragus, which runs UK restaurant chains Cafe Rouge and Strada.
M&B put itself up for sale after a property deal went disastrously wrong, losing it 400 million pounds ($792 million), and costing the firm's chairman and finance director their jobs.
Rivals and private equity players would once have been falling over themselves to buy M&B's approximately 2,000 English pubs, but the credit crunch has paralysed debt markets, leaving few potential buyers.
A person close to the deal told Reuters that M&B's management was "not particularly engaged" in the auction process and he questioned whether any bidders were still left now that Punch, Apax, TPG, Cinven and Terra Firma had walked away.
Punch's plans to tie up with M&B were criticised by one of its largest shareholders, U.S. hedge fund QVT, which has said the deal would have diluted Punch's value.
Punch shares were up about 8 percent at 559 pence after the market opened in London.