British tycoons David and Frederick Barclay have pulled their offer to buy press baron Conrad Black's Hollinger, exacerbating a cash crunch at the firm, which missed a debt payment this week.

Toronto-based Hollinger's main asset is a controlling voting stake in Chicago-based Hollinger International, owner of newspapers including Britain's biggest-selling broadsheet, the Daily Telegraph, and the Chicago Sun-Times.

A US court last week stopped Lord Black from selling his majority stake in Hollinger to the publicity-shy twins, who own the Scotsman newspaper and London's Ritz Hotel and live in a castle on an island off northern France.

The ruling made the withdrawal of their offer for the rest of Hollinger a formality, although the pair could still take another shot at taking control of Lord Black's newspaper stable by making a bid directly to the Hollinger International board.

In withdrawing their bid for Lord Black's holding company, the Barclays also ended their agreement to fund a buy-back of Hollinger debt. - (Reuters)