TORONTO (Reuters) – Canadian Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne spoke to Alimentation Couche-Tard founder Alain Bouchard and assured him of support for Canadian business after the company abandoned plans to buy the company. European retailer Carrefour SA, said the minister in a tweet on Sunday. .
Quebec-based convenience store operator Couche-Tard abandoned negotiations 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 partnership opportunities, they said in a joint statement on Saturday.
Champagne said in his tweet that the government will support Canadian companies “here and abroad”, adding that bilateral trade benefits companies on both sides of the Atlantic.
Bouchard, a self-made billionaire, transformed Couche-Tard from just one store in 1980 into a global chain of convenience stores and gas stations with a market value of $ 33 billion, with 66 acquisitions along the way.
France’s swift and firm rejection of the deal sparked a wave of transatlantic lobbying to save the transaction, but the companies ended their search on Friday night. Le Maire reiterated his opposition without hearing the terms of the transaction, sources told Reuters on Friday, and said any such agreement should not be reviewed before France’s 2022 presidential election.
Reporting by Denny Thomas; Editing by Lisa Shumaker