(Reuters) -The Bureau Veritas Fall on the stock market on Monday after the announcement of the end of the talks between the French group and its Swiss Swiss competitor SGS.

The two companies specializing in tests, inspection, audit and certification announced in separate press releases the end of the discussions, SGS declaring that they did not lead to an agreement and ended.

“Although a strong conviction exists around the potential for creating value linked to the consolidation of the testing sector, inspection and certification (ICT), (…) These discussions have ended and have not resulted in an agreement “Said Bureau Veritas in his press release.

A spokesperson for SGS said that the group had nothing to add for the reasons for its decision.

On the Paris Stock Exchange, around 10:05 a.m. GMT, the Bureau Veritas action lost 3.75% to 28.72 euros, while in Zurich, SGS takes 3.74% to 88.20 Swiss francs (93.33 euros) .

SGS and Bureau Veritas had declared earlier in January being in talks for a possible merger to create a certification giant.

Such a rapprochement would have given birth to a company valued at more than $ 30 billion (28.60 billion euros), much larger than its competitors, including the British Intertek and the French Eurofins.

A source close to the file said that minor contractual problems and the risks of execution had contributed to failing the negotiations between the two groups.

“The market speculated on the fact that SGS would pay a kind of bonus on BVI, reflected in the parity of the potential merger. This will not happen in the end, so that BVI is down and SGS increasing,” said An analyst who asked not to be appointed.

(Written by Elena Smirnova and Noémie Naudin, edited by Augustin Turpin)

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