The French government yesterday sent a clear signal that it would oppose any hostile takeover bid by US soft drinks and snack maker group PepsiCo for French food and dairy giant Danone.
Meanwhile, the price of shares in Danone, which have risen strongly recently on rumors that a bid is in the air, gained 6.39 percent in initial trading in response to a newspaper report that PepsiCo had appointed two investment banks to advise it on a possible takeover bid.
French Employment and Social Cohesion Minister Jean-Louis Borloo said on French radio Europe One that the government would use whatever means were available to it "to do everything possible to try to oppose a hostile takeover bid."
However, Borloo said that his remarks should not be taken as confirmation of what was "only a rumor" regarding PepsiCo.
But, he said: "I can guarantee you that we are watching this matter with external means, means which could be available to us."
He said that Danone was more than a jewel, it was "a special company because it is an emanation of our agricultural production and is also a structural factor behind French and European small and medium-sized companies which work for Danone."
Borloo, who is a leading figure in the mainly right-wing government as the architect of a vast plan for urban renewal, said that Danone was "a very important company for the balance of our country regarding employment, infrastructure across the country for health, and for a style of life."
His remarks were set in a context in which the government is under pressure on one side to accelerate market-orientated reforms of the economy and on the other to respond to deep public anxiety over dilution of job and social security which is associated with reform.
However, the Financial Times, in its European comment column, said that France accounted for only 22 percent of Danone's business.
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