Blackstone Group (NASDAQ:$BX), a private equity giant has called off the sale of its $2.8 billion Australian shopping mall portfolio in fear of Amazon (NASDAQ:$AMZN) spooking buyers of bricks-and-mortar stores.

The cancelled sale also came from the stress of Australia’s latest east-coast real estate market, where increasing population and bustling property prices have underpinned landlords’ profits for the past decade.

Blackstone is the world’s largest alternative asset manager. Rather than to sell the Australian shopping malls, it is now opting for a renovation in hopes of rejuvenating sales.

An insider source indicated: “Blackstone had strong offers, but only for individual assets and not for the whole 10 malls. There’s been a hit on the retail sector sentiment because of the emergence of Amazon.”

Blackstone acquired most of its assets in Sydney and Melbourne in 2011 from troubled property players Valad Property Group and Centro Properties.

While Amazon has yet to fully structuralize its strategy in Australia, the sheer mention of the industry giant has concerned the share prices of retailers and retail landlords. The exact move to back up against Amazon came after the company’s announcement to launch online shopfront service in Australia. Further, Blackstone’s portfolio appears particularly vulnerable since investors typically perceive its malls as of lower quality comparable to second-tier shops that have shuttered in the United States due to large online competition.

Featured Image: twitter