French retail merger falls flat? Casino rejects Carrefour tie-up, but Carrefour denies it was ever made

24 Sep 2018 --- Carrefour is reviewing its legal options to stop “unacceptable innuendoes” after fellow French retailer Casino claims that Carrefour made a tie-up approach. The Casino Group has said that it was contacted by Carrefour over the last few days with a view to a possible combination while Carrefour insists the merger proposal does not exist. 

As a result, a meeting of Casino’s board of directors was held yesterday (September 23) where the board “unanimously reiterated its entire confidence in Casino’s strategy for value creation based on its unique market positioning.”

In a statement, Casino said it “intends to take all necessary action to defend the group’s corporate interest, and its structural integrity, a key factor for the success of its strategy.”

“The board of directors also acknowledged the barriers, in France and in Brazil, to a combination with Carrefour, especially in terms of competition and employment. The board unanimously decided to reject Carrefour’s approach.”

The Casino statement also says that “Carrefour’s approach occurs at a time when the market for Casino’s securities has been subjected to coordinated downward speculative manipulations of an unprecedented scale over the course of the past several months.”

However, when FoodIngredientsFirst approached Carrefour for comment, we were sent a statement which completely denies that an attempt was ever made. 

A Carrefour spokesperson says: “The difficulties faced by Casino and its controlling shareholder may not justify untimely, misleading and groundless communications.”

“Carrefour denies having solicited Casino and is surprised that Casino’s board of directors would have been submitted a merger proposal that does not exist.”

“Focused on the implementation of its 2022 transformation plan, Carrefour is reviewing its legal options in order to stop these unacceptable innuendoes.”

Carrefour is one of the largest hypermarket chains in the world operating in more than 30 countries in Europe, the Americas, Asia and Africa. French mass retailer Casino also has operations around the world. The company is listed on the Euronext Paris and its majority shareholder is Rallye SA.