Mumbai, April 4 :    Mumbai, April 4:  The stock scam claimed another victim today - the merger of UTI Bank and Global Trust Bank (GTB). Before the curtains could come down on its alleged collusion with Big Bull Ketan Parekh in rigging the price of its share, a bitter GTB decided to call off its engagement with UTI Bank for a marriage that would have produced the country's largest private sector bank with a balance-sheet of Rs 20,000 crore. The two sides had been quibbling over a share swap ratio, and allegations that the GTB top-brass engineered a spurt in its share price to win a better deal drove them further apart. Global Trust said it would be difficult to live together when it is being accused of a propping up its share. 'Reports of a nexus between GTB chairman Ramesh Gelli Parekh and brokers in price rigging and similar allusions in the media have eroded the goodwill and understanding established between the two banks. The environment, therefore, is not conducive to a merger at this point of time,' GTB said. Gelli told reporters in Hyderabad this evening that he wanted a union of strength but it was turning into a merger of 'bad notions'. He denied any insider trading and said Global Trust had been the target of a wave of negative publicity. The break-up did not come as a surprise. UTI chairman P S Subramanyam had voiced his reservation to the merger after Global Trust was accused of ramping up its share price. 'It did not surprise me. I was under the impression that GTB would prescribe a fresh swap ratio, which would be rejected by UTI Bank, after which Global Trust would back out from the merger. However, the separation has taken place much earlier,' said a senior banking official. With the dust now settling on the charges and counter-charges, the two banks are preparing to start life afresh. Sources say both would now count on organic growth as a means to build up their balance-sheets. However, banking analysts are credited with the view that the two banks, particularly UTI Bank, might try to explore the possibility of a fresh merger with another private bank after some time. 'It's business as usual for the bank. Earlier, GTB used to post an annual growth rate of 40 per cent organically, but plans to boost it were put on hold due to the merger process. The bank will now step on the gas,' sources close to GTB said. The bank had deferred a decision to set up 123 ATMs because it clashed with that of UTI Bank. This was in addition to branch expansion plans which were put off after the announcement that it would unite with UTI Bank. 'All this will now start happening and the bank will start working towards attainment of the target. We will still set a target of achieving a growth rate of over 40 per cent,' officials said. The decision to part ways was taken at a meeting of the GTB board of directors held here today. In a press statement issued here today, the bank said there have been misgivings about price rigging, and 'living with the burden of this memory will be onerous''. The merger plan, which seemed jinxed right from the day it was unveiled, was first undermined by speculation about the fairness of the swap ratio of 2.25:1 ratio fixed by SBI Capital Markets, the merchant banker initially appointed. The mistrust deepened when Deloitte, Haskins & Sells came up with the same figure after UTI Bank asked it to conduct a fresh valuation. Reports at that point of time talked about the growing differences between the two partners, and Global Trust's unhappiness with Deloitte's appointment. GTB today said the Deloitte report had indicated that the share price considered for the arriving at the swap ratio had ignored the periods during which the scrips of two banks had peaked - but that would not have, in any possible way, altered the swap ratio. 'Further, the price of GTB during the period of negotiations, actually moved down from Rs 91 on December 18 to Rs 80.25 on January 23, the day the merger was announced,' Global Trust said, repeating its denial that there was any foul play through price rigging. Sebi somersault The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), in a volte face, today said its preliminary report on the pre-merger price rigging in the GTB scrip does not mention individuals. 'We have said there was price manipulation, but we have not taken the names the people who were involved in it. We have not reached that stage,' a senior Sebi official said. The clarification from senior Sebi officials comes amid reports that its preliminary report submitted to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) talks about a nexus between Gelli and Ketan Parekh to orchestrate the price movements in the scrip.