It has publicly said the decision is due to stronger cash reserves from the sale of two US subsidiaries, although it's also rumoured the package offered by the Stanhope-lead consortium just wasn't what they were looking for.

Cable & Wireless Communications started the trend by backing out of a large corporate PFI deal covering their entire UK operation. CWC planned to sell and lease back its properties, freeing the large amounts of capital they have tied-up in property, plus receiving all the usual perceived benefits of outsourced property management.

They took the deal in-house instead.

CWC's decision to keep property management in-house was the second major private-sector outsourcing deal to disintegrate. In November 1998, computer company ICL broke off negotiations with Nomura to outsource the operation of its 120-property estate. The potential £1bn deal collapsed after the two parties could not agree a price.

Oliver Jones, chief executive of Citex Group and one of the loudest supporters of PFI, says on the matter: "The desire to avoid irregular capital commitments can be readily understood, as can the need to invest some of the capital generated in backlog maintenance and technical upgrades."

But in the case of corporate PFI, the sheer size and scale of the deals along with boardroom nerves over a loss of asset control, seems to be causing some large corporations to experience some last minute nerves...

However, many pundits still believe that corporate PFI is the way of the future, with many corporations set to move out of property for good.

Property Week recently quoted on insider who said PFI was: "an item on every board's agenda"