French food and services group Sodexho Alliance has poured cold water on a newspaper report that it was about to make a $5 bn (EUR 3.8 bn) bid for global property advisor Jones Lang LaSalle.

French food and services group Sodexho Alliance has poured cold water on a newspaper report that it was about to make a $5 bn (EUR 3.8 bn) bid for global property advisor Jones Lang LaSalle.

When contacted for comment on the report in French newspaper La Lettre de l'Expansion, a spokeswoman for Sodexho responded: 'we deny we are interested in JLL'. The newspaper cited a source close to the matter as saying that Sodexho had mandated Lazard bank to investigate acquiring the Chicago-based property advisor for $137 a share.