Ahold announces sale of 13th large Polish hypermarket

05/04/05 Ahold has announced that it has finalized the sale of its 13th and last large Hypernova hypermarket in Poland to Real sp. z o.o. i Spolka s.k.

Finalizing the transaction announced in Poland on March 4, 2005, required fulfilling a number of conditions, including anti-trust approval.

On February 24, 2005, Ahold announced the completion of the divestment process of the other 12 large Hypernova hypermarkets in Poland as part of its strategy of asset portfolio optimization and strengthening of its financial position by reducing its debt.

Ahold will focus its Polish operations on continued development of two store formats: Albert supermarkets and Hypernova compact hypermarkets. Currently, Ahold manages a chain of approximately 170 Albert supermarkets and 13 Hypernova compact hypermarkets in Poland.