TORONTO (Reuters) – Canadian Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne spoke with Alimentation Couche-Tard founder Alain Bouchard and assured him of backing for Canadian companies after the company dropped plans to buy European retailer Carrefour SA, said the minister in a tweet on Sunday. .
Quebec supermarket operator Couche-Tard dropped talks to buy Carrefour for $ 20 billion after French finance minister Bruno Le Maire raised concerns about food and job security. Instead, the two companies decided to work on partner opportunities, they said in a joint statement on Saturday.
Champagne said in its tweet that the government will support Canadian businesses “here and abroad,” with two-way trade benefiting businesses on both sides of the Atlantic.
A self-made billionaire, Bouchard has taken Couche-Tard from just one store in 1980 to a global network of convenience stores and gas stations with a market value of $ 33 billion, with 66 acquisitions.
France’s swift and forceful rejection of the deal sparked a wave of transatlantic lobbying to save the transaction, but the companies stopped their pursuit late Friday. Le Maire reiterated his opposition without listening to the terms of the transaction, sources told Reuters on Friday, saying such a deal should not be reconsidered before France’s 2022 presidential election.
Reporting by Denny Thomas; Editing by Lisa Shumaker