There are two gaps in the following sentence. From the pairs of the words given, choose the one that fills the gaps most appropriately. The first word in the pair should fill the first gap.
The British retailer, M & S, today formally ______ defeat in its attempt to _____ King's, its US subsidiary, since no potential purchasers were ready to cough up the necessary cash.
- admitted, acquire
- conceded, offload
- announced, dispose
- ratified, auction