At the start of October, the consortium announced it was considering a cash offer for the company, in the second acquisition attempt for Intu in less than a year.

In the announcement, Peel Group said that the possible offer was 'at a preliminary and exploratory stage' and that 'no approach has been made to the board of Intu'. 'There can be no certainty that any transaction will ultimately be forthcoming, nor can there be any certainty as to the terms of any such transaction. A further announcement will be made if appropriate,' it added.

The consortium initally had until 1 November to make a firm offer for Intu, later extended to 22 November. Now, Intu has announced that since sharing due diligence materials with the consortium on 19 October, the group of bidders had requested an extension to the deadline 'to enable continued discussions and provide the consortium sufficient time to complete the financing process'.

Intu has extended the deadline to 5pm on 30 November, and said that the consortium had confirmed that 'nothing has arisen from its due diligence workstreams which would lead it to alter the terms of their indicative proposal dated 17 October 2018 of 210.4 pence per share'.

Intu, formerly Capital Shopping Centres, is the owner of 18 shopping centres across the UK, including the Trafford and Arndale Centres in Manchester and Metrocentre in Gateshead. Earlier this year the company saw a £3.4 bn friendly takeover offer by Hammerson fall through due to the deterioration in the UK property market and concerns about the lengthy merger process.