Feb. 26 (Bloomberg) -- Sodexho Alliance SA, the world's second-largest caterer, denied a report in La Lettre de L'Expansion that the French company plans a $5 billion bid for U.S. real-estate broker Jones Lang LaSalle Inc.

The report is ``false'' and contains ``wrong information,'' Clodine Pincemin, a spokeswoman for Montigny-Le-Bretonneux, France-based Sodexho, said today in an interview.

The caterer hired Lazard Ltd. to advise on the offer, which would take place this year and be financed with a $1 billion sale of debt and stock, according to the report, which cited unidentified people. Chicago-based Jones Lang, the world's second-largest commercial real-estate broker, has a market value of about $4 billion.

Shares of Sodexho dropped 15 cents, or 0.3 percent, to 55.67 euros at 10:42 a.m. in Paris, rebounding from a decline of as much as 2.8 percent.

Charlotte Freeman, a spokeswoman for Jones Lang, declined to comment.

To contact the reporter on this story: Fabio Benedetti-Valentini in Paris at fbenedettiva@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: February 26, 2007 04:48 EST