Reuters ahead on news that Brazil withdrawing support for Carrefour retail merger

Reuters beat all international competitors on the July 11 news that Brazils government had withdrawn its support for a controversial retail merger involving Frances Carrefour and Pao de Acucar. This meant that the deal was all but doomed, and sent Carrefours shares reeling the next day. A Brazlian government official told Reuters that President Rousseff had decided not to support the tie-up between Carrefour and Brazils No.1 retailer after unexpected opposition from shareholders and politicians. The deal was structured around loans from Brazíls BNDES state development bank, so the loss of government support had both political and financial consequences. Media outlets throughout Brazil and Europe immediately began citing us on the development. Bloomberg was nowhere to be seen on the story, and Brazilian competitor Agencia Estados matching story was posted online about three hours after ours. The next day, Carrefour shares dropped as much as 4 percent and Pao de Acucar shares fell 2 percent.