Dutch retail giant Ahold says may sell stake in ICA

Dutch retail group Ahold said Tuesday it has begun looking at selling off its 60-percent stake in Scandinavian supermarket chain ICA, worth an estimated 1.5-2.4 billion euros ($1.9-3.0 billion).

“Ahold has today announced that it is exploring strategic options regarding its 60 percent holding in ICA, the Scandinavian retailer,” the company said in a statement

An IPO on the Stockholm stock exchange “is one of the alternatives being considered,” it added.

The review of its “strategic options” should take between six months and a year, the company said, adding that it wanted to focus its strategy on wholly-owned companies.

ICA is co-owned by Ahold (60 percent) and the Swedish investment fund Hakon Invest AB (40 percent). However, decision-making weight is split 50-50.

Hakon Invest AB said that its share in ICA was not for sale and noted that “the owners have a mutual controlling interest in ICA AB stipulating mutually agreed decisions.”

“The shareholders’ agreement also contains conditions on how changes in any of the parties’ ownership may be conducted,” Hakon Invest AB said.

The markets welcomed the move with shares in Ahold up 2.46 percent at 10.09 euros at around 1530 GMT.

“This announcement is not surprising,” Tom Muller, analyst at asset management firm Theodor Gilissen, told AFP.

“When you are not sole owner you can’t say everything you want, you can’t give the company the direction you want,” he said.

ICA operates 2,215 shops, mainly in Sweden but also in Norway and the Baltic states. The company had a turnover of over 11 billion euros in 2011.

Ahold owns about 3,000 stores in North America and Europe and employs around 218,000 people.