US equity giant Blackstone Group has abandoned its acquisition of SOHO China, the Chinese property developer said on Friday.

In March last year, Blackstone tried to buy SOHO China for US$4 billion (25.78 billion yuan), but the pandemic led Blackstone to withdraw the offer on its side.

As the market recovered, Goldman Sachs acquired about 2.9 billion shares in SOHO for HK$5 each, on behalf of Blackstone for a total of  HK$24 billion (US$3 billion). However, in early August, SOHO announced that the State Administration for Market Regulation has launched an investigation and the transaction was suspended.

SOHO China has eight real estate projects in Shanghai and Beijing, all complexes with office buildings and shopping malls. The properties brought in 805 million yuan in rent last year.