ADRs End Lower; Delhaize Falls

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 [e-mail]

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