Bank of China Ltd, the nation's fourth-largest lender by assets, has abandoned a possible bid for HBOS Plc, Scotland's second-largest bank, the Scotsman reported.

The Beijing-based bank lost interest after Britain's Treasury allegedly gave the proposal the "cold shoulder," the paper said, without saying where it got the information. HBOS shareholders are due to vote next month on an all-share takeover offer by Lloyds TSB Group Plc after the Edinburgh-based bank came close to collapse. The Treasury wouldn't stand in the way of a serious alternative bid and its only interest was in a package that would provide HBOS with financial stability, an unidentified spokesman told the Scotsman.

(Shanghai Daily November 13, 2008)