A consortium of Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), the sovereign wealth fund of the gas-rich emirate, CVC Capital Partners and Canadian property group Brookfield have abandoned a secret plan to bid for British supermarket group J.Sainsbury, Sky News reported on Saturday.

QIA has an around 25 per cent stake in Sainsbury's.

Sky said the trio had dropped a planned takeover, hatched in the autumn, after Sainsbury's made a 1.4 billion pound ($2 billion) bid for Home Retail Group, the owner of Argos.

The report could not immediately be verified.-Reuters