Agricultural cooperative InVivo, majority shareholder in Teract, is abandoning its plans to invest in a possible tie-up with Casino, the financial newsletter "La Lettre A" reported on Thursday.

Casino, Teract and InVivo declined to comment.

Casino and Teract had been in exclusive talks since March with a view to combining their retail activities in France.

The exclusivity period for the negotiations expires on June 8, and Teract said it would issue a statement on Thursday evening.

(Dominique Vidalon reports, Kate Entringer edits by Blandine Hénault)