Delhaize and Ahold in preliminary merger talks
Belgian supermarket group Delhaize and its Dutch competitor Ahold are in preliminary merger talks, Belgian daily De Tijd reports, citing unnamed sources familiar with the situation.
The report said talks are not yet nearing an official agreement.
If the two were to merge they could take over the market leading position in Belgium from supermarket chain Colruyt. Neither Delhaize nor Ahold gave a reaction following the news.
The two supermarket groups have already been in talks in 2006-2007, but despite negotiations being in an advanced stage, the deal did not go through. The two parties failed to reach agreement on the structure of the deal.
The families holding Delhaize are not controlling the company as much as ten years ago, the report said. They now hold about 20%, while institutional investors have increased their holdings in Delhaize in recent years. Both groups have received investments from large institutional investors including Norges Bank, JPMorgan, Vanguard, ING and BNP Paribas.
Ahold has a turnover of EUR 33bn and operates 30 Albert Heijn shops in Belgium. Delhaize reported a EUR 21bn turnover in 2014. Ahold's profitability is higher than Delhaize's, a report in Dutch financial daily Het Financieele Dagblad said following the news.
De Tijd, Financieele Dagblad