Bloomberg Update Executives at Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-01-17/couche-tard-faces-investor-grilling-after-aborted-carrefour-deal?srnd=premium-canada
Executives at Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. defended a failed bid for Carrefour SA and said they would still like to buy the French grocer some day, but will turn their focus to other potential deals.
The Canadian convenience store operator made a $20 billion offer that was shot down by French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire on Friday. The bid caught investors off guard because Couche-Tard does not operate supermarkets.
In response to criticism of the deal, Couche-Tard executive chairman Alain Bouchard said previous large acquisition -- including the 2003 acquisition of Circle K -- also surprised the market, but they worked out.
“Over the last decades while growing our business we have made many bold moves, some of which were not always obvious to our stakeholders,” Bouchard said on a conference call with investors Monday.
“Was I hoping our bold approach to Carrefour would have turned out differently? Of course. Yet I’m tremendously proud that Couche-Tard had the financial strength and acumen to make such an offer.”
Couche-Tard shares were up 2.2% to C$38.81 as of 10:16 a.m. in Toronto. They were down nearly 11% last week. Carrefour fell as much as 7.6% in Paris.