RETAIL tycoon Philip Green last night dropped his £9.1bn takeover bid for Marks & Spencer.

The high street group had earlier defied calls from its largest shareholder to allow Mr Green to examine the company's books ahead of the bid.

The billionaire retailer said that despite continuing support from Brandes and other shareholders, it had been concluded that bid vehicle Revival Acquisitions would "not gain the cooperation of the board of M&S to provide it access to the information necessary for Revival to make its offer, including the necessary meeting with the pension trustees, by August 6".

Brandes, which has an 11.7 per cent stake in M&S, had previously issued a statement urging the retailer to consider Mr Green's final proposal of 400p a share.

It had pledged to back a formal offer from Revival, while the bid had also attracted support from Schroder Investment Management, which has 1.2 per cent of shares, and others controlling a total of 21.1 per cent of shares.

Mr Green's statement said that the decision to withdraw came following yesterday's annual meeting statement and conversations with company chairman Paul Myners.

He said: "Since it has never been Revival's intention to disrupt the business of M&S, Revival is making this announcement promptly and wishes to thank the many M&S employees and shareholders who have expressed their support."

The statement said Revival reserved the right to make or participate in an offer within the next six months in the event that the board of M&S agreed to recommend an offer or a third party announced a firm intention to make an offer for M&S. At the start of the company's annual meeting yesterday, Mr Myners had said it would be wrong to allow Mr Green to examine the M&S books when it believed his £9.1bn proposal undervalued the company.

He vowed to help M&S restore growth in sales and profits and backed a review by chief executive Stuart Rose outlined on Monday.