Ifour withdrew its cautionary this week, while A-Prop removed it last week. Bonatla continues to trade under a cautionary that relates to other considerations including a proposed merger with property fund Fairvest.

The speculation started when the three companies issued separate cautionary notices on the same day in October last year.

The merger consideration was not well received by a group of Bonatla's shareholders led by Niki Vontas. But it appeared to have had the blessing of Bonatla's asset management company, Catalyst.

An offer for Bonatla's assets by Fairvest, Vontas' other brainchild, looked like a counter move to the speculated three-way merger.

Ifour MD Anthony Diepenbroek said yesterday that the cautionary initially issued by iFour in October last year became confused and had to be removed. He said the deal they were pursuing became too messy and the possibilities of concluding it became more and more remote.

Diepenbroek said iFour was maintaining its vision to become a R2bn property fund and was looking at a number of alternatives.

Ifour linked units, listed six months ago at 500c, closed unchanged at 470c on the JSE Securities Exchange SA yesterday. Bonatla's linked units were unchanged at 45c and Farivest's were flat at 50c.