Dutch retailer Ahold is in talks to sell its majority stake in 443-store supermarket business Schuitema to private equity firm CVC.
A deal could value Ahold’s 73 per cent holding at €550 million (£407.7 million) and would involve the transfer of 50 shops from Schuitema to Ahold.
Bernstein analyst Christopher Hogbin said a deal would be good news for Ahold in its domestic market strategically. Ahold’s Albert Heijn chain has been outperforming Schuitema’s C-1000 chain. A disposal might alleviate anti-trust concerns and allow Albert Heijn to expand further.
Hogbin said the sale of the Schuitema stake would reduce Ahold’s Dutch market share by 10 percentage points to about 24.8 per cent. However, he warned: “The disposal will reduce Ahold’s purchasing scale in Holland by about 30 per cent. That, over time, may erode its purchasing advantage.”
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