Ahold plans sale of Chilean supermarkets
Discussions with Cencosud over Santa Isabel chain
February 5 2003
Dutch supermarket giant Ahold is in talks over the sale of its stake in the Santa Isabel supermarket chain operating in Chile.
Ahold hopes Chilean retailer Cencosud will take on the 77 store business, valued at around $150m. Peruvian and Paraguayan operations operating under the Santa Isabel brand will not be included in the transaction.
Cencosud operates DIY stores and hypermarkets, with its Hipermercados subsidiary the third-largest food retailer in Chile with 7 hypermarkets and 15 DIY stores. The company also operates 11 hypermarkets and 21 DIY stores in Argentina.
Ahold announced in November that it would focus on boosting growth in its profitable core businesses, reducing debt and rationalising its store portfolio. The Chilean operation is seen as underperforming.
