CI Financial has withdrawn its $254 million offer to acquire all of the outstanding common shares of Clarington Corp.

Earlier today, Industrial Alliance announced a bid to acquire all Clarington shares at $14.25 a share, surpassing CI’s offer of $13 a share.

CI said it is not clear whether the Industrial Alliance bid includes the management fee reductions that CI had presented to Clarington as part of its $13 per share bid.

It added that the proposed fee reductions would have provided significant benefits to Clarington fund unitholders.

“I would expect that Clarington has got Industrial Alliance to match CI’s unitholder fee reductions as the Clarington unitholders should not be the ones funding the higher bid,” said Stephen MacPhail, CI’s president and COO, in a release.