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Takeover target Resolution has withdrawn its support for the current bid put forward for the company by rival insurer Standard Life.

Last week the company confirmed that its board was withdrawing its support for the company's long-planned merger with Friends Provident in order to recommend the Standard Life offer.

But Resolution's largest shareholder Pearl subsequently trumped Standard Life's £4.9 billion bid with a fresh offer of its own.

While Standard Life had joined forces with Swiss Re to offer 517p in cash and 0.715 new Standard Life shares for each share held by Resolution's investors, Pearl has teamed up with the Royal London Mutual Insurance Society to present a 720p-a-share bid for the insurer.

In a statement today Resolution confirmed that it was subsequently unable to support the Standard Life bid in its current form due to the likelihood of the offer being rebuffed by rival suitor Pearl, which holds a stake of around 24 per cent stake in Resolution.

"In light of the fact that Pearl now holds approximately 24 per cent of Resolution's issued share capital, Resolution does not believe that the offer from the Standard Life/Swiss Re consortium is capable of being implemented without the support of Pearl," the insurer stressed.

"Consequently the board has withdrawn its recommendation of the Standard Life/Swiss Re offer in its current form," Resolution added.

However the insurer stressed that it continued to see "real strategic benefit" in a potential tie-up between Resolution and Standard Life and thought that a re-structured offer by the company could prove attractive to its shareholders.

Resolution has confirmed that it intends to engage in discussions with both the Standard Life and Pearl consortiums about the value of their bids.

Standard Life said this morning that it was exploring "a number of options for restructuring its proposed offer", in conjunction with Resolution.

In a statement the insurer said: "Standard Life continues to believe strongly in the strategic rationale of the transaction and remains convinced that its cash and shares offer provides compelling value."