Wednesday, April 07, 1999
Royal Ahold, the food retailer, today announced the acquisition of Gastronoom, a Dutch institutional food supplier with 1998 sales of NLG 778 million (approximately USD 390 million).
Over the years, Gastronoom has built a solid position in the Dutch hospitality food market and is a natural fit with GVA, Ahold's institutional food supply company. GVA, with 1998 sales of NLG 807 million (approximately USD 435 million), has a solid presence in the market for hospitals, schools and catering companies.
Ahold will acquire Gastronoom for NLG 318 million (approximately USD 170 million), including interest-bearing debt. Ahold plans to integrate Gastronoom into its specialized institutional food supply company GVA. Following completion of the transaction, Ahold will have a 10% share of this NLG 14 billion (approximately USD 7.5 billion) institutional food market, which has considerable potential in The Netherlands.
Gastronoom, with about 1,000 associates, specializes in supplying the hospitality sector (hotels, restaurants and bars) from its 18 distribution and service centers in The Netherlands. GVA operates nine distribution sites, of which five are regional fresh centers, employing about 800 associates.
Jan Andreae, member of the Ahold Corporate Executive Board responsible for European operations, commented: 'We're very excited about this acquisition. The consolidation of the institutional food supply market in The Netherlands is developing apace and the front runners in this sector will be those who can allocate the costs over a broad front. Economies of scale and synergy benefits will facilitate ongoing investment in information technology, distribution processes and top-level service, enabling us to serve our customers even more efficiently.'
Approval and advice has been sought from the works councils and Dutch regulatory authorities.