National Westminster Bank, fighting a hostile bid from Bank of Scotland, yesterday officially killed off its £10.7 billion sterling planned acquisition of insurer, Legal & General Group.

The move was expected as NatWest decided last week not to extend the offer period beyond the first closing day on Monday and adjourned an extraordinary general meeting to vote on the deal indefinitely. NatWest said the deal had expired because it had only received acceptances representing 1.41 per cent of L&G shares.