Dutch retailer Ahold announced today (Wednesday) that it had received from escrow the final purchase amount for the approximately 85% of the shares of its Argentine retail subsidiary Disco which it transferred on 1 November 2004 to the Chilean retailer Cencosud.
The transaction, which Ahold and Cencosud entered into on March 5, 2004, still requires Argentine antitrust approval, although this will not affect Ahold’s retention of the purchase amount, Ahold said. Ahold and Cencosud are committed to bringing this process to a successful conclusion and they believe that antitrust approval will be obtained in due course.
The purchase amount for the remaining approximately 15% of the Disco shares that currently have not been transferred by Ahold to Cencosud remains in escrow until such shares can legally be transferred to Cencosud. These shares are subject to certain Uruguayan court orders processed and executed in Argentina.
