By Nick Kostov

French retailer Casino Guichard-Perrachon SA, also known as Casino Group, said late Sunday its board had rejected entreaties from Carrefour SA about a possible combination.

But Carrefour, the French grocery giant, denied having solicited Casino, accusing the rival of "untimely, misleading and groundless communications."

Casino's release said Carrefour had approached the company in recent days with its proposal, and that the Casino board met on Sunday to consider the idea. "Casino thus intends to take all necessary action to defend the group's corporate interest, and its structural integrity, a key factor for the success of its strategy," the company said.

In a separate news release, sent hours later, Carrefour denied having solicited Casino, and was "surprised that Casino's board of directors would have been submitted a merger proposal that does not exist." A spokesman for Carrefour declined to comment beyond their statement.

Casino's share price has fallen 29% since the beginning of 2018, in part because of investor concerns about the company's debt. Casino has also been a target of target of hedge funds who have shorted the stock.

Casino "acknowledged the barriers, in France and in Brazil, to a combination with Carrefour, especially in terms of competition and employment."

"We stand by every word and every comma of our press release," a spokesman for Casino said. "There was a meeting between the two CEOs on the morning of September 12 at 8:30 a.m. in Paris. Both sides then hired lawyers, who talked."

Write to Nick Kostov at Nick.Kostov@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

September 24, 2018 02:52 ET (06:52 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2018 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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