Two of France’s biggest retailers have accused each other of lying, with one saying that it had rejected a merger proposal that the other claimed it had not made.
In a statement, the Casino group said that its board of directors had “unanimously” turned down an offer from Carrefour, its bigger competitor, noting that the proposed offer had followed “unprecedented” speculative attacks on its shares, which have lost about a third of their value since January.
“Casino thus intends to take all necessary action to defend the group’s corporate interest,” it said.
