Peace Arch Entertainment has called off its marriage with British distributor ContentFilm, ending a deal that took shape last December when the companies signed a letter of intent for a $69-million takeover.

‘ContentFilm is an innovative entertainment company with an attractive business model and a strong management team, but given both the turmoil in the credit markets and market conditions in general, we have decided not to make an offer to purchase the company,’ Peace Arch CEO Jeff Sagansky said Thursday in a statement.

For its part, ContentFilm, in its due diligence, found that a falling share price and delays in completing a financial audit at Peace Arch, combined with the current credit crunch in financial markets, made it more appealing to cut off its exclusive talks with Peace Arch and continue business on its own.

‘Over the past several months the turmoil in the capital markets and the unexpected delay in the PAE audit have made it difficult to conclude a transaction that achieved appropriate value for our shareholders,’ ContentFilm chairman Alton Irby said in a statement.

Syntek Capital, ContentFilm’s largest shareholder, also okayed the go-it-alone strategy after last year signaling it wanted to cash out.

The collapse of the takeover deal means Toronto-based Peace Arch will not gain access to the CBC library acquired by ContentFilm subsidiary Fireworks International.