Chalk up another victim of the evaporation of cheap credit. Yesterday Nelson Pelz's Triarc Co., the front runner in the move to buy Wendy's International (NYSE: WEN), announced it had offered $37-$41 per share, well below the price it was prepared to pay last summer when its interest was first revealed.

Another factor suppressing the price is word in the Wall Street Journal (subscription required) earlier this week that another suitor, William Foley, along with several investment funds, had decided to pass on the opportunity. This leaves only one known competitor for the company, David Karam's Cedar Enterprises, which owns 134 Wendy's restaurants.

Apparently, Pelz was not enthralled by the company's slightly better than expected third quarter, or perhaps he took to heart Wendy's CEO Kerrii Anderson's concern that the "headwinds" of rising commodity prices could hamper the company's ongoing cost reduction initiative.

After a burst of market enthusiasm over the sale possibility drove Wendy's stock as high as 42.22 this summer, it has dropped again to the doldrums of the low 30's. It fell further on today's news.