French companies Elior and Derichebourg may link up their services units

PARIS (Reuters) -French company Derichebourg may combine its services division with that of French catering company Elior, although Derichebourg has no plans for a takeover bid for Elior, the French companies said on Thursday.

Both Elior and Derichebourg were responding after Bloomberg News reported late on Wednesday that Elior was considering a tie-up with Derichebourg, which is Elior’s biggest shareholder.

“Following recent press and the announcements by Elior Group on July 4 and November 23 with respect to the review of strategic options, Elior Group confirms that one of these options is being discussed with Derichebourg and relates to the potential contribution by Derichebourg of its services division to Elior Group,” said Elior.

Derichebourg’s “Multiservices” divisions runs a range of businesses from managing buildings to human resources activities such as training and recruitment.

Elior’s shares were up by roughly 10%, while Derichebourg were up 1.6% as they resumed trading after a suspension.

Dericherbourg also confirmed those talks but added it did not plan a full bid for Elior.

“Derichebourg confirms, in this context and among all the options under consideration, the existence of discussions with Elior for the possible contribution of its Multiservices division,” the company said.

“To date, there is no certainty as to the outcome of these discussions and the conclusion of a firm agreement concerning this contribution. In any event, Derichebourg confirms that it does not intend to file a takeover bid for Elior,” it added.

(Reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta and Diana Mandia; Editing by Alex Richardson and Tomasz Janowski)