A consortium of the Peel Group, Olayan Group and Brookfield Property Group started bid talks in October but they have now collapsed following continuing turmoil in the retail sector and the uncertainty around Brexit.

Intu said it is now focusing on the longer-term with plans to protect its investment programme and add more diverse elements like housing, commercial and hotels to retail schemes.

Intu spent £147m on capital investment during the first nine months of this year and £18m on maintenance work.

The developer said: “intu intends to continue to invest for the long term in its winning destinations to ensure they remain best in class and adaptable in an evolving retail environment.

“In addition to its core development pipeline, intu continues to look at opportunities within the portfolio for alternative uses of some of its available land.

“This includes residential, hotel, office, flexible working and other opportunities.

“Initial work has highlighted the potential for around 5,000 residential units and nearly 600 hotel rooms, with further opportunities under active consideration.

“All of these would both create value directly but also increase the overall attractiveness and catchment of intu’s centres.”

To protect  its investment programme intu is cutting dividends to shareholders starting with a planned payout for the end of 2018.

It said: “intu’s focus is on delivering strong total shareholder return over the medium term and believes that maintaining cash in the business by reducing the dividend to fund the investment programme will be highly beneficial to the total returns intu can achieve.”