(Yicai Global) Aug. 14 -- Soho China has ended negotiations with US private equity group Blackstone aimed at taking the office and commercial developerprivate in a USD4 billion deal. Its shares fell.

The talks were terminated because “no consensus has been reached on the terms of the potential transaction thus far,” the Beijing-based company said in a statement today.

Soho China’s prospects were fraught with uncertainty due to the Covid-19 pandemic and international tensions, and talks had come to a standstill, Bloomberg reported on May 4. Last October, before the coronavirus struck,Bloomberg saidthe company had put eightoffice blocks in Shanghai and Beijing up for sale, seeking USD8 billion.

Shares of Soho China [HKG:0410],founded in 1995 by husband and wife team Pan Shiyi and Zhang Xin, fell 6.7 percent todayto HKD2.67(34 US cents) each. They climbed37.6 percentafter Reuters broke the news of the exclusive talks on March 10.

Soho China confirmed that it wasin discussions with overseas investorsin a stock exchange filingtwo days later, adding that no formal agreement had been reached.

New York-based Blackstone was offering HKD6 (77 US cents) a share, according to Reuters. The offer was twice Soho China's closing price of HKD2.98 on March 9.

Editor: Ben Armour