Private equity bidders are finding life difficult since the credit squeeze and are walking away from deals, inflating the value of failed buy-outs to $202bn this year, more than double the figure for the same period last year.

Just as Delta Two, the Qatari-backed group, blamed credit market turbulence for dropping its bid for J Sainsbury, so several buy-out groups have wriggled out of bids launched before the financing squeeze.