Shares in Maguire Properties Inc. tumbled nearly 20 percent Friday after the real estate investment trust said it is no longer pursuing a sale of the company.

Downtown’s largest landlord said that it decided to nix a sale because turmoil in the credit markets has deterred buyers. Maguire added that it will continue to review alternatives to increase shareholder value.

“As a result of the current market conditions, particularly in the credit markets, and the lack of any viable acquisition proposal received from third parties, such review no longer includes active pursuit of the possibility of sale of the company,” the Los Angeles-based company said in the statement.

In December, Maguire said it was considering a sale after dropping a similar plan just 10 months earlier. Investor JMB Capital Partners LP had asked the company to examine a sale and demanded two seats on the company’s board.

Chairman Robert Maguire, who started the company more than 40 years ago, told the Wall Street Journal in December that he had lined up investment firm Colony Capital and the Qatar Investment Authority for a bid to buy the company and take it private.

Earlier this month, Maguire delayed its annual shareholders meeting, saying it needed more time to weigh a possible sale of the company. The company said the meeting, originally scheduled for June, would be held no earlier than Aug. 1.

Shares in the Los Angeles company were down nearly 20 percent to $13.77 in early trading Friday on the New York Stock Exchange.