French minister opposes $20 bln Carrefour offer
'A clear and final no' from French finance Minister Bruno Le Maire... as he continued on Friday (Jan 15) to express France's stiff opposition to a possible near-$20 billion takeover of Carrefour by Canada's Alimentation Couche-Tard.
Le Maire told BFM TV that "Food security is strategic for our country, so that's why we don't sell a big French retailer".
Adding that "the no is polite, but it's a clear and final no."
That helped send the French retailer's shares tumbling over 4 percent though.
Carrefour, which acknowledged the approach to discuss a combination on Wednesday (Jan 13), had no immediate comment on Friday.
Convenience-store operator Couche-Tard's 20 euros per share offer has raised political considerations.
Carrefour is France's biggest private-sector employer, and continental Europe's largest retailer.
Speaking to Reuters on Thursday (Jan 14) Le Maire spoke of his concerns over selling it:
"I think that Carrefour is a very strong company. And I fully trust Carrefour to improve its model and to develop a new distribution model, but having Carrefour being bought by a foreign company would be a major difficulty for all of us."
The Carrefour CFDT union said that staff were "surprised and a bit worried" by the offer, which raised concerns over jobs.
UBS analysts said Carrefour shares were now pricing a low 20% probability of a deal happening.
Saying: "Clearly the forceful commentary from the French government suggests they can block the deal."
