October 7, 2020
PARIS (Reuters) – Antoine Frerot, the chairman and chief executive of French utility Veolia <VIE.PA>, told Le Figaro newspaper in an interview published on Wednesday that a deal with its bid target Suez <SEVI.PA> was still possible.
“We can arrive at an agreement with Suez,” Frerot told the paper, adding he thought another two or three months of talks could result in a deal being reached with Suez.
Veolia has already secured 30% of the capital of its rival Suez and stands ready to launch an offer on the remainder of the shares but the month-long battle appears far from over as the target strongly reaffirmed its refusal to yield.
(Reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta, editing by Louise Heavens)