¾ÅÉ«

GE Capital announced that it was abandoning its attempt to acquire the U.K.’s Equitable Life, following the Board of Directors rejection of its improved offer.

The action leaves the way clear for U.K. mortgage lender Halifax to proceed with its plan to acquire Equitable’s sales force, administrative facilities and investment management business for £1 billion ($1.46 billion).

GE had sought to derail the Halifax proposal at the last minute, but U.K. regulatory authorities reportedly favored the Halifax plan over GE’s, which was characterized as being inferior, as it involved a series of loans.

“We made a good-faith offer for Equitable. We believed it was in the policyholders’ best interest. We disagreed with Equitable’s analysis,” the Financial Times quoted a GE statement.