Shares of Carrefour slumped 7% on Monday, after Canada’s Alimentation Couche-Tard ended its short-lived takeover bid to buy the French supermarket giant.
Carrefour’s
CA,
shares were trading at the same level as before Couche-Tard announced its interest. Couche-Tard
ATD.B,
ended its pursuit after France’s finance minister, Bruno Le Maire, stated his objections on “food sovereignty” grounds.
The two companies did say they will look to share best practices on fuel, pool purchasing volumes, and partner on private labels.
Suez’s
SEV,
shares rose 3% to €17.41, after the waste and water management company recommending an €18 per share, or €11.3 billion, bid from private-equity investors Ardian and Global Infrastructure Partners. Rival Veolia Environnement
VIE,
has nearly a third of Suez, which it is trying to buy, and said it won’t sell its Suez stake.
Broader markets traded in a narrow band with the U.S. shut in observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Attention was building to the incoming Biden administration.
Treasury secretary nominee Janet Yellen will say the U.S. doesn’t back a weaker dollar, according to The Wall Street Journal, and one of President-elect Joe Biden’s first executive actions will be to end the Keystone XL oil pipeline, according to Canadian broadcaster CBC.
Down 0.8% last week, the Stoxx Europe 600
SXXP,
slipped 0.1%.
U.S. stock futures
ES00,
which are continuing to trade electronically, slipped 0.2%.
The euro
EURUSD,
weakened by 0.1% to $1.2070.