Good morning from the Financial Times.
Today is Tuesday, December 16th, and this is your FT News Briefing.
Looks like Shell's not so interested in BP,
and a European trade deal decades in the making could be in jeopardy.
Plus, hedge funds are diving into a new market, physical commodities.
I'm Sonia Hudson, and here's the news you need to start your day.
Shell's CEO shot down an internal proposal to buy the company's rival BP this year.
And after that, Shell's head of mergers and acquisitions left the company.
This is according to several people familiar with the situation.
Its M&A team argued that BP's falling share price and management turmoil opened up an opportunity.
The thought was that a deal would help Shell solve its growth problems.
But CEO Weil Suwan believed it would be challenging to combine two of Britain's biggest companies.
The internal opposition means Shell probably won't try to make a deal for BP when restrictions on bidding end later this month.
Shell told the FT it had, quote,
previously made a clear statement on its lack of interest in BP and had nothing to add to it.
The European Union is supposed to vote on a trade deal this week with the South American Mercasur countries.
France wants to delay the vote, and now the EU's top trade official has issued a stark warning.
Postponing could sink the deal and cause the bloc to lose its global credibility.
The FT's Andy Bounds covers European trade, and he joins me now.
Hi, Andy.