Ahold management under pressure to break up retailer

Ahold's management was under growing pressure last night after two major shareholders called for the embattled food retailer to be broken up.

Centaurus and Paulson, hedge funds that together hold 6.4 per cent of Ahold, said the share price of the Netherlands-based company could increase more than one-quarter against its value last week if it were restructured.

The investors called on Ahold to sell its US operations, which account for almost three-quarters of sales, and concentrate on its European divisions.

They are understood to be increasingly frustrated at what they see as an underperformance of the US units and a lack of synergies between the company's divisions. However, they are not thought to be considering a buyout of the company themselves.

Shares in Ahold yesterday rose to €7.33, their highest level in several months, but the hedge funds argue that the shares could be worth more than €9 each. The company has traded at a discount to peers since launching a recovery scheme after an accounting scandal in 2003 that brought it to the brink of bankruptcy.

The move is the latest sign of growing international shareholder activism among companies based in the Netherlands.

It follows the involvement this year of the same two groups in efforts to persuade the management of Stork, a Dutch industrial group, to consider options to unlock value, including a break-up.

The hedge funds urged "drastic strategic action" at Ahold and said they wanted to talk to management and other shareholders.

Ahold was unavailable for comment last night.

The hedge funds want the retailer to focus entirely on its remaining European market, where it runs divisions including Albert Heijn, the Dutch supermarket chain.

Nico van Geest, head of equity research at Van Lanschot in the Netherlands, said: "In Holland, the company is doing well. But its retail operations in the US, particularly its flagship Stop & Shop/Giant Landover, are underperforming against competitors."

The cost of insuring Ahold's debt jumped on the news as investors worried about the potential for a buyout bid, according to traders for credit default swaps, a kind of insurance against non-payment of corporate debt.