LVMH chief, Belgian financier to make bid for Suez: report

0 Comments | AFP, January, 2007

PARIS (AFP) — The chief executive of French luxury goods group LVMH, Bernard Arnault, and Belgian financier Albert Frere are reportedly preparing a joint bid for French energy group Suez. Suez plans to merge with state-controlled Gaz de France later this year under a controversial government-backed deal, but French billionaire Francois Pinault is also rumoured to be mulling a counter bid for the group.

The French weekly Marianne, which did not name its source, said French Finance Minister Thierry Breton supported the bid by Arnault and Frere, but this was denied by the French government. Albert Frere's holding company Groupe Bruxelles Lambert (GBL), which is the biggest single investor in Suez with a stake of about 8.0 percent, declined to comment on the claims. A spokesman...