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Computer chip design software firm Mentor Graphics (MENT) is plummeting this afternoon, the biggest decliner on the Nasdaq, after competitor Cadence Design Systems (CDNS) withdrew an unsolicited offer to acquire the company for $16 per share. Mentor’s board had rejected the offer back on June 17, saying the price was “insufficient” and that the likelihood of getting anti-trust approval for the merger was low enough to put such a deal in jeopardy.

So much for the hostile tone implicated in Cadence’s original proposal.

A down turn in stock prices and the virtual shut-down of the LBO business has resulted in a sharp reduction in tech sector M&A activity, according to a new report by The 451 Group.

In Q2, according to 451 analyst Brenon Daly, overall tech M&A fell 40% from a year earlier, to $148 billion from $241 billion. More stark was the drop in private equity deals, which fell to just $7 billion in the quarter, down from $85 billion one year earlier, a 92% decline. The number of tech LBOs worth more than $1 billion fell to 2 this quarter, from 8 a year earlier.