Nordic retailer ICA Ahold and the Dutch insurance company Aegon have ended negotiations on forming a joint venture involving ICA Ahold subsidiary ICA Banken.
In November 2002, ICA Ahold and Aegon announced that they had started talks on a 50/50 joint venture in ICA Banken (based in Solna, Sweden), for the provision of financial services through ICA Ahold’s retail network. These negotiations have been discontinued, because of divergent views on both the strategic direction for the bank and the transaction price.
ICA Banken remains a wholly owned subsidiary of ICA Ahold and will continue to focus on providing financial services.
ICA Ahold, which is 50% owned by Dutch retail giant Royal Ahold, is a leading retailing group in the Nordic region with 3,100 stores in Scandinavia and the Baltic countries.
