J.C. Flowers has said it will not raise its bid of £3.5 for insurer Friends Provident and is prepared to abandon a takeover deal if Friends Provident do not begin talks by the end of the week.

According to Reuters, a source close to the matter has said that J.C. Flowers have been consistently snubbed by the management of Friends Provident, who rejected their current offer last month on the grounds that it did not represent the true value of the company.

J.C. Flowers currently owns 2.7 per cent of Friends Provident. On Monday the company said, J.C. Flowers wishes to confirm that it does not intend to increase the terms of its proposal above 150 pence per share, reports Reuters.

Shares in Friends Provident took a dive following the news, dropping 10.8 per cent to 116.4 pence per share, significantly lower than the 150 pence per share offer by J.C. Flowers.

J.C. Flowers last week revealed some its plan to finance the deal and has already been given a 30 April deadline to make a final bid by the UK Takeover Panel, a deadline which is beginning to look more like an irrelevance.