Speculation over ownership of one Gloucester's key business parks has come to an end.

Hammerson, the owner of St Oswald's Retail Park, has ended weeks of speculation over whether it would merge with rival Intu in a £3.4 billion deal or be taken over by French giant Kleppiere.

St Oswald's is home to B&Q, ScS, Argos, Wren Kitchens, DW Sports and Fitness First and Frankie & Benny's.

With all the uncertainty not helping its share price the British shopping centre owner has announced it no longer plans join forces with Intu as it first proposed back in December.

It has withdrawn its recommendation to shareholders for the deal.

The merger would have created a business valued at £21 billion with John Whittaker, founder of Peel Holdings , which ultimately owns Gloucester Quays, its deputy chairman.

A considerable nail in the coffin was a letter to Hammerson from its second largest shareholder, APG, calling the offer was "insufficiently attractive".

That followed the firm's rebuffal of a proposed tie-up with Kleppiere which approached it twice and not least with a £5 billion bid.

A deal with Intu would have made Hammerson the UK's biggest property company with a portfolio including the likes of the Bullring Shopping Centre in Birmingham and Intu's Trafford Centre in Manchester.

Before the dust has even settled on this latest news Hammerson was announcing plans for a major development in Birmingham which could dwarf the aforementioned Bullring.