Tesco may swoop for Dutch supermarket
Supermarket giant Tesco could be poised to make a €14.5bn swoop on the assets of troubled Dutch counterpart Ahold, it was reported today.
Tesco executives have been running a rule over Ahold and will report back to chief executive Terry Leahy this week, the Independent on Sunday newspaper reported.
If Leahy does make an approach to Ahold’s board, Tesco’s interest in the €4.37bn battle for control of Safeway is likely to fall by the wayside.
Tesco has declined to comment on the speculation, which comes a week after Ahold revealed accounting problems at its operations in the United States and Argentina.
Shares in the world’s third largest retailer tumbled 63% after the group said it had overstated profits by €460m and had accepted the resignations of its chief executive and finance director.
The company owns the Stop & Shop and Giant retail franchises in the US, and Albert Heijn, the Netherlands’ leading supermarket.
Today’s report said analysts expected that Ahold might now have to sell businesses or could even be susceptible to a bid for the whole group.
A move by Tesco would boost the company’s international aspirations as both companies have operations in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland and Thailand.
