International stocks trading in New York closed lower on
Wednesday.
The BNY Mellon index of American depositary receipts eased 0.6%
to 148.09. The European index decreased 0.52% to 146.52, the Asian
index dropped 0.79% to 155.74, the Latin American index fell 0.72%
to 218.17 and the emerging markets index declined 0.56% to 265.07.
Delhaize Group (DEG, DELB.BT) was among the companies with ADRs
that traded actively.
ADRs of Delhaize fell 7% to $22.83 after Belgium-based grocery
chain and Netherlands-based supermarket company Royal Ahold NV said
they agreed to a merger, creating one of the largest supermarket
operators in the U.S. The combined company would be valued at 26.07
billion euros($29.11 billion) based on their closing share prices
Tuesday.
ADRs of Telecom Italia SpA (TI, TIT.MI) fell five cents to
$13.14 after Vivendi SA (VIVEF, VIV.FR, VIVHY) boosted its stake in
the company to 14.9%. The move gives the French media conglomerate
and its chairman Vincent Bollore a bigger presence in Italy. As
expected, Vivendi said it received an 8.2% stake in Telecom Italia
as part of the deal it struck last year to sell its Brazilian
broadband unit GVT to Telefonica SA (TEF, TEF.MC). Spain-based
Telefonica wanted to disentangle itself from Telecom Italia.
Telefonica ADRs fell four cents to $14.95.
Monsanto Co.'s top executive said the St. Louis-based company
remained committed to acquiring rival pesticide-and-seed maker
Syngenta AG (SYT, SYNN.VX), but the window for a deal "is measured
in months, not years." Monsanto Chief Executive Hugh Grant said
discussions this month with shareholders of Syngenta, which has
repeatedly rebuffed Monsanto's roughly $45 billion bid, have been
"encouraging." He implored investors to appeal to Syngenta's board
of directors to engage in deal talks. Syngenta ADRs fell 1.5% to
$84.86.
ADRs of Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. (SMI,
0981.HK) fell 1.9% to $8.24 a day after the Chinese chip foundry
said it will form a joint venture company with Qualcomm Inc.,
Huawei Technologies Co. and Belgian chip research center Imec to
develop advanced 14-nanometer chips.
Write to Tess Stynes at tess.stynes@wsj.com
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