European shares slightly rose on Monday, helped by stronger telecom stocks, but a slump in Unilever following Kraft Heinz's abrupt withdrawal of its $143 billion bid for its larger rival weighed on the broader market.

By 0822 GMT, the pan-European STOXX 600 index was up 0.3 per cent, while UK's FTSE edged up 0.1 per cent.

Unilever shares fell 8 per cent, making them the biggest fallers on the STOXX. People familiar with the matter said Kraft withdrew its offer because it felt it was too difficult to negotiate a deal following the public disclosure of its bid so soon after its approach to Unilever.

Telecom stocks rose 1.3 per cent, led higher by a 2.2 per cent surge in Deutsche Telekom following a Reuters report that SoftBank is prepared to give up control of Sprint to Deutsche Telekom's T-Mobile US to clinch a merger of the two US wireless carriers.