The turmoil in financial markets has put a stop to Equitable Life's sale of its £7bn with-profit fund, as it has become impossible for the stricken mutual to make a deal.

Equitable called a halt to the intiative just weeks after Prudential, the considered frontrunner to acquire the fund, pulled out, citing better opportunities for value-creating deals elsewhere.

Equitable, which closed to new business eight years ago after it came close to collapse, had hoped to strike a deal by the end of this year. However, the financial crisis made this impossible, people familiar with the situation told the Financial Times.

The company said that, although Equitable had received a number of proposals, none met its requirements. Equitable is now left with the prospect of running down the fund itself.

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Read the Financial Times story