Dixons, Carphone merger talks deadline extended to May

Britain's Takeover Panel has granted Dixons Retail and Carphone Warehouse an eight week extension to their negotiations for a possible merger.

The retailers did have a deadline of 1700 GMT on Monday to confirm whether they intended to press ahead with a deal. However, the Takeover Panel said the deadline had now been extended to May 19.

Dixons and Carphone announced they were in merger talks on Feb 24.

A combination of Dixons, Europe's No 2 electricals retailer, and Carphone, Europe's largest independent mobile-phone retailer, would create a group with about 2,900 stores across the continent which would probably find a place in Britain's FTSE 100 index of leading companies.

"Since the announcement of Feb 24 was made when discussions were at a very preliminary stage, both parties have agreed that they require more time to evaluate a potential merger of the two businesses," the two companies said on Monday.