Ahold Initiates Share Buyback Program
This buyback program will be executed by intermediaries through on-exchange purchases and will end as soon as the aggregate purchase price of the common shares acquired by Ahold has reached €1 billion, or Ahold holds 10% of the issued shares.
04/09/07 Ahold has announced that it is initiating the € 1 billion share buyback program announced on August 30, 2007. This buyback program will be executed by intermediaries through on-exchange purchases and will end as soon as the aggregate purchase price of the common shares acquired by Ahold has reached €1 billion, or Ahold holds 10% of the issued shares. The maximum consideration for each common share will not exceed, among other things, the higher of the last independent trade and the highest current independent bid on the relevant trading venue.
The maximum number of shares to be repurchased on any given day will not exceed 25% of the average daily trading volume on the regulated market on which purchases are made, calculated over the last 20 trading days before the date of repurchase. The program does not include repurchases of Ahold's American Depositary Receipts (ADR's).
On May 3, 2007 the General Meeting of Shareholders authorized Ahold to acquire and cancel shares for a period of 18 months.
The purpose of this share buyback program is to return value to shareholders. It is Ahold's intention to cancel the common shares acquired through the share buyback program or to use part of the shares for commitments under employee share-based compensation.