Tuesday, July 06, 1999
Ahold, the food retailer, today announced the completion of its acquisition of Gastronoom, a food supplier to the Dutch hospitality sector.
The total transaction size is approximately USD 170 million.
Gastronoom is a nation-wide wholesale company with 1998 sales of approximately USD 390 million. Gastronoom will be combined with Ahold's existing institutional food supplier GVA, which specializes in the supply of meal components to the larger institutional markets including the hospital and nursing home sector. In 1998, GVA achieved sales of approximately USD 410 million. The combined operation, with sales of approximately USD 0.8 billion, employs 1,800 people.
'The two companies will be integrated swiftly to benefit from economies of scale in the Dutch institutional market', said Jan Andreae, Ahold Board member responsible for European operations. 'We're now in a position to develop a range of new services in time. The two companies will do very well together and have considerable growth potential.'