Ahold has reportedly dropped plans to merge with Delhaize, although the company told just-food that it was unable to comment on the subject.
According to a Financial Times report citing people close to the situation, discussions between the two companies have ground to a halt and there are currently no plans to restart the process.
Neither Ahold nor Delhaize have been willing to officially confirm that talks were ever underway.
The Financial Times reported that the talks came to an end before Ahold announced the sale of its US foodservice business, which had been viewed as a prerequisite of a merger, but that the outcome of Ahold’s operational review was unrelated to the merger talks.
Under the merger proposal, Ahold and Delhaize were reportedly considering establishing two separate US and European retail groups under a common holding company.
