France's Carrefour (CARR.PA) and Brazilian retailer Grupo Pao de Acucar (PCAR4.SA) have been talking for more than a month about merging their units in Latin America's biggest economy, newspaper Valor Economico said on Tuesday. Both rivals could seek to merge their supermarket and hypermarket units, Valor reported, without saying how it got the information. Carrefour and the Diniz family, one of Pao de Acucar's two controlling shareholders, could agree to a share swap to seal the transaction, Valor said. Pao de Acucar's shares fell on Tuesday, reflecting worries that the Sao Paulo-based retailer could enter a competitive bid for Carrefour's Brazil unit and hit regulatory and minority shareholder opposition to the deal. Pao de Acucar shed 1.2 percent to 66.30 reais, its first decline in four sessions. Carrefour rose 0.2 percent to 30.305 euros.
Source
