Carrefour's Brazil merger fails

13 July 2011 Last updated at 08:23 GMT Supermarket giants are competing for a larger slice of Brazil's fast-growing grocery market Brazilian retail tycoon Abilio Diniz has suspended plans to merge his supermarket chain Grupo Pao de Acucar with the local arm of France's Carrefour.

His move comes after Brazilian state development bank BNDES backed out of supporting the deal.

Carrefour's French rival Casino, which owns a major stake in Grupo Pao de Acucar, had also opposed the deal.

Brazil's fast-growing grocery sector is seen as a big investment opportunity.

Despite Mr Diniz suspending the merger plans, analyst Natalie Berg from Planet Retail said it left Casino in a difficult position.

"There is not really a winner here, as Casino is stuck with a partner whose interests are obviously elsewhere," she said.

The deal's suspension comes as Carrefour continues to seek to expand its global operations to offset a weak French retail sector.

'Resilient' trading

Carrefour, which has issued three profit warnings in the past year, reported a slight fall in quarterly global sales on Tuesday.

Its worldwide like-for-like sales excluding petrol in the three months to 30 April were 0.2% lower than a year earlier.

By contrast, like-for-like sales growth at its Brazilian operations were up 10%.

"Our sales performance was resilient in Western Europe and strong in Latin America and Asia," said Lars Olofsson, Carrefour's chairman and chief executive.

Carrefour has had a presence in Brazil since 1975, and has more than 500 outlets including those of its Atacadao cash and carry brand.

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London-Toronto bourse merger off

29 June 2011 Last updated at 21:21 GMT After failing to merge with TMX, the LSE could be a bid target, say analysts The London and Toronto stock exchanges have scrapped plans for a C$3.6bn (?2.3bn) merger because it was unlikely to win enough shareholder votes.

TMX, which owns the Toronto exchange, said that based on votes already cast, the required two-thirds shareholder support was unlikely to be met.

The LSE said in a statement that its shareholders overwhelmingly backed a merger, based on votes already cast.

Xavier Rolet, LSE chief executive, said: "We are clearly disappointed."

Tom Kloet, TMX chief executive, said the company will now review a rival takeover bid by Maple Group Acquisition, made up of 13 Canadian banks and pension funds.

TMX said it will pay a $10.3m termination fee to the LSE, and a further $29.8m if the acquisition with Maple goes through.

Bid target

Some analysts believe the collapse of the merger turns the spotlight on the LSE as a potential takeover target.

"Investors have bought into LSE stock recently in the belief the TMX bid will fail and the LSE will end up on the block," said Simon Maughan, an analyst at broker MF Global.

"I suspect there are more LSE shareholders willing to sell now," he said.

Arnaud Giblat, a director at UBS bank, said the Nasdaq exchange may be waiting on the sidelines for the London exchange.

"Nasdaq made bids for TMX and the New York Stock Exchange, and it is reportedly looking at LCH. Nasdaq seems to want to bulk up and the LSE fits the bill," he said.

Nasdaq has already twice tried and failed to buy the LSE, and in May the US company pulled out of plans to buy the NYSE.

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LSE 'committed' over TMX merger

16 May 2011 Last updated at 11:48 GMT Continue reading the main story The London Stock Exchange has said it "remains committed" to its merger with Toronto Stock Exchange owner TMX, despite news of a counter offer.

"London Stock Exchange Group and TMX have initiated the application process with Canadian federal and provincial authorities," the statement reaffirmed.

On Saturday, a group of Canadian banks and pension funds unveiled a $3.7bn rival bid for TMX.

LSE's share price rose 6.5% by lunchtime in London on Monday.

The rally may reflect market expectations that the LSE may now become a takeover target.

"The view among the global financial elite is that if the LSE is frustrated in its attempt to merge with TMX, predator will become prey: the LSE itself will be gobbled up by some or other overseas rival," says BBC business editor Robert Peston.

The share price rally was given an extra 4% leg-up at lunchtime from news that Nasdaq is dropping its bid for the New York Stock Exchange and, by implication, may be available to bid for the LSE instead.

'Exciting' offer

TMX said it would consider the new bid while still seeking shareholder and regulatory approval for the LSE deal.

Recent months have seen a spate of merger talks between the world's leading stock exchanges.

In March, the US exchanges Nasdaq and ICE mounted their now-withdrawn bid for NYSE Euronext, in an effort to top an existing offer from Deutsche Boerse.

Last month, for its part, Australia indicated that it would block a bid from the Singapore stock exchange for ASX, the firm that owns the Australian Stock Exchange.

The fresh bid for TMX was made by a number of Canadian financial institutions operating under the name Maple Group Acquisition Corporation.

Continue reading the main story

For years it has been totally inconceivable that any British government would tell a bidder for a UK company to take a hike ”

End Quote Robert Peston Business editor, BBC News "Now Canadians have a Canadian alternative to look at that points to the strength of our financial services sector," said Ontario Finance Minister Dwight Duncan.

He said the government would look at the bid, but while it was too early to say whether he personally preferred Maple's offer to that of the LSE, he was "excited" a Canadian bid had been made.

Any deal for TMX must gain government approval.

At the end of last year, the Canadian government blocked an offer for fertiliser group Potash Corporation from Anglo-Australian mining giant BHP Billiton on the basis that it was not in Canada's national interest.

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