Laragrove, a private equity consortium, has quit the takeover battle for Debenhams, the UK retail group, but is likely to walk away with an £8.5m (€12.2m) break fee which will be paid by its bidding rival, Baroness Retail.

Laragrove, backed by Permira Advisers, Blackstone Group and Goldman Sachs Capital Partners said in a statement that it expected its offer to lapse.