Royal Ahold (NL) - ICA Ahold and AEGON to agree on joint venture

Published: 13:23 07.11.2002 GMT+1 /HUGIN /Source: Royal Ahold /AEX: 

AHLN /ISIN: NL0000495828
 

ICA Ahold and AEGON to agree on joint venture
 
Zaandam, The Netherlands, November 7, 2002 - Ahold´s Scandinavian

joint venture ICA Ahold and AEGON The Netherlands expect to conclude

negotiations on a 50/50 joint venture in the ICA Ahold subsidiary ICA

Banken, for the provision of financial services through ICA Ahold's

retail network outlets initially in Sweden.
 

ICA Ahold intends to sell a 50% stake in ICA Banken to AEGON. ICA

Banken is a subsidiary of ICA Ahold that was launched last year,

which offers financial services to ICA Ahold customers in Sweden. ICA

Ahold and AEGON, one of the world's largest listed life insurance

groups, plan to accelerate the development of ICA Banken and expand

the range of products and services provided.
 

ICA Ahold successfully entered the financial services market in

Sweden with ICA Kundkort over the past decade, offering a limited

number of saving and credit products to its one million financial

services customers. AEGON will contribute its global financial

services expertise, including the experience gained in a joint

venture with Albert Heijn, a subsidiary of Koninklijke Ahold in The

Netherlands.
 

This joint venture will be subject to the regulatory approvals of the

relevant authorities.
 

ICA Ahold

ICA Ahold AB is the leading retailing group in the Nordic region with

3,100 stores in Scandinavia and the Baltic countries. In addition,

ICA Ahold and Statoil jointly own and operate 1,500 Statoil service

stations across Scandinavia. ICA Ahold is owned by ICA Förbundet

Invest AB (30%), Canica AS of Norway (20%) and Ahold (50%). The ICA

Ahold joint venture was established in April 2000.
 

Ahold is a multi-local food retailer and foodservice operator serving

40 million customers in 27 countries every week.
 
 http://reports.huginonline.com/880739/110151.pdf
 

Ahold Corporate Communications: +31.75.659.5720

Mobile: Annemiek Louwers, +31.6.53.98.16.06,

Nick Gale: +31.6.55.77.22.83.
 
----------------------------------------------

This Ahold press release contains "forward-looking statements".

Actual results may differ from such statements as they may have been

influenced by factors beyond the company's ability to control, as

more fully discussed in the company's annual report.


----------------------------------------------
 
This press release was brought to you by Hugin Online, distributor of 

electronic press releases for companies listed on selected European 

stock exchanges.  Address:
 http://www.huginonline.com/Benelux/AHLN
 

To alter your subscription profile or to unsubscribe, please go to:
 http://www.huginonline.com/email
 

The Hugin Team