Amsterdam, the Netherlands, February 11, 2013Â - Ahold today announced that it
has reached an agreement with Hakon Invest of Sweden regarding the sale of
Ahold's 60% holding in ICA, the Scandinavian retailer, for SEK 21.2 billion in
cash, which includes ICA's 2012 dividend of SEK 1.2 billion.
Ahold presented a new growth strategy in 2011, and aims to focus the execution
of this strategy on businesses it controls in order to create value. In
September last year, Ahold started a review of strategic options for its stake
in ICA.
The transaction is subject to regulatory approvals, as well as approval by the
ICA Retailers' Association (ICA Forbundet) for the financing of the transaction.
The transaction is expected to be completed in the middle of this year.
This transaction will have no direct impact on the joint activities of ICA and
Ahold in areas such as sourcing and responsible retailing. These initiatives,
which go back more than 30 years, are mutually beneficial and support business
goals.
ICA is the market-leading food retailer in Sweden. It also operates ICA and Rimi
stores in Norway, and Rimi stores in the Baltics. ICA operates 2,215 retailer-
owned and company-operated retail food stores and had SEK 96,863 million in
sales in 2012.
Ahold Press Office: +31 88 659 5343
Ahold Investor Relations: +31 88 659 5213
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2013/02
Cautionary notice
This press release includes forward-looking statements, which do not refer to
historical facts but refer to expectations based on management's current views
and assumptions and involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could
cause actual results, performance or events to differ materially from those
included in such statements. These forward-looking statements include, but are
not limited to, statements as to the transaction being subject to regulatory
approvals and financing approval by the ICA Retailers' Association (ICA
Forbundet) and the timing of the completion. These forward-looking statements
are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual
results to differ materially from future results expressed or implied by the
forward-looking statements. Many of these risks and uncertainties relate to
factors that are beyond Ahold's ability to control or estimate precisely as
discussed in Ahold's public filings and other disclosures. Readers are cautioned
not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak
only as of the date of this press release. Koninklijke Ahold N.V. - which is its
statutory name - does not assume any obligation to update any public information
or forward-looking statement in this release to reflect subsequent events or
circumstances, except as may be required by applicable laws.
Ahold press release Feb 11 2013:
http://hugin.info/130711/R/1676903/546740.pdf
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Source: Ahold via Thomson Reuters ONE
[HUG#1676903]
