European shares edge lower, Hugo Boss slips on share placement

LONDON, Feb 10 (Reuters) - European shares edged down early on Tuesday, with Hugo Boss (Xetra: BOSA.DE - news) leading the market lower after private equity firm Permira placed a tranche of its shares.

German fashion group Hugo Boss fell 4.6 percent, the top decliner in the pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index, after Permira placed shares at 102 euros each. Permira, Hugo Boss's largest shareholder, is reducing its holding to 14 percent or less, from 32 percent.

Security camera maker Axis AB surged nearly 50 percent after Japan's Canon (Other OTC: CAJFF - news) said it plans to buy the Swedish firm for about 23.6 billion Swedish crowns ($2.83 billion) to expand into surveillance products.

At 0814 GMT, the pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index was down 0.1 at 1,479.12 points.

Investors stayed cautious as Greece and its euro zone partners were engaged in brinkmanship, with Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras insisting his country would not extend its reform-linked bailout and Germany saying it would get no more money without such a programme.

Greek Defence Minister Panos Kammenos said if Greece failed to get a new debt agreement with the euro zone, it could always look elsewhere for help. On the other hand, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker warned Greeks not to expect the euro zone to bow to Tsipras' demands, in a growing confrontation. (Reporting by Atul Prakash; Editing by Sudip Kar-Gupta)