* Deal would have created 3 billion euro market leader
* Prysmian says still looking at opportunities
* Draka shares lose 5.6 pct, Prysmian stock down 1.7 pct (Adds Draka statement)
By Aaron Gray-Block
AMSTERDAM, Sept 10 (Reuters) - Leading cable maker Prysmian called off talks to take over Dutch peer Draka Holding NV on Thursday.
In brief, separate statements late on Thursday, Prysmian and Draka said they could not reach agreement on the main terms and conditions.
Draka had earlier said it was still in discussions although the transaction was complex because it was a cross-border deal.
The proposed takeover, first announced in late June, would have created a market leader worth over 3 billion euros at current market prices.
Draka shares had fallen more than 5 percent to be the lead Amsterdam midcap decliner after Italian newspaper La Repubblica said Prysmian could withdraw from the talks if Draka did not offer concessions on the share swap rate.
Draka and Prysmian said on June 29 that they were in talks about a possible stock-for-stock merger.
When talks were first announced, Prysmian was worth about 1.77 billion euros, dwarfing its nearest rival Nexans of France, and Draka around 325 million euros, according to Reuters data.
Prysmian is currently worth around 2.5 billion euros and Draka about 548 million euros. Draka shares closed down 5.6 percent at 12.75 euros on Thursday while Prysmian stock ended 1.7 percent lower at 13.60 euros.
In August, Prysmian Chief Executive Valerio Battista said there were very large problems to sealing a deal and that one of the hurdles was meeting the requirements of a European Union directive on cross-border mergers.
The deal talks were something of a rarity in the current climate of tight credit and global recession although analysts had seen the possibility of cost savings from the takeover.
Prysmian said in its statement it would "continue to consider other possible opportunities."
Prysmian is about 32 percent owned by Goldman Sachs. (Additional reporting by Jo Winterbottom and Stephen Jewkes in Milan and Harro ten Wolde and Reed Stevenson in Amsterdam; editing by Karen Foster)