Reuters – Dutch retailer Ahold posted forecast-beating second-quarter earnings on Thursday and said it was not in talks with two hedge funds keen on a break-up, or private equity firms eyeing abuyout.
The stock rose more than 3 percent, approaching a three-year high.
“There is no dialogue,” Chief Executive Anders Moberg told reporters in a conference call.
Hedge funds Paulson & Co. Inc. and Centaurus Capital, which together own about 6.4 percent of Ahold, have urged the retailer to sell its U.S. activities and concentrate on its more lucrative European business.
“We have not had any further conversations with Ahold,” said Randel Freeman of Centaurus Capital, adding he was not surprised Ahold had not spoken to the hedge funds before its results.
But Freeman, speaking on a conference call about Centaurus and Paulson’s demands for restructuring at Dutch industrial systems and services group Stork NV, noted that Ahold officials had been at a Stork shareholder meeting this week.
Moberg said Ahold, the world’s fourth-biggest food retailing and foodservice group by sales, had not been approached by private equity firms to be bought.
