ZAANDAM, The Netherlands, Oct. 4, 2002 (PRIMEZONE) -- Ahold (NYSE:AHO), the international food retailer and foodservice operator, today announced it successfully completed its tender offers for the outstanding Shares of common stock and American Depositary Shares ("ADSs") of Chilean supermarket company, Santa Isabel S.A., not already owned by it.
The tender offers were made through Ahold's wholly owned subsidiaries, Gestion, Rentas e Inversiones Apoquindo Limitada ("GRIAL") and Disco Ahold International Holdings N.V. ("DAIH"). GRIAL made a tender offer in Chile for Shares but not ADSs. DAIH made a concurrent tender offer in the United States for Shares held by U.S. holders and for ADSs. Each ADS represents fifteen Santa Isabel Shares. The tender offers, which were commenced on September 3, 2002, expired at 5:30 p.m., Santiago time (5:30 p.m., New York City time), on Thursday, October 3, 2002.
Based upon preliminary information, a total of 138,206,875 Shares have been tendered pursuant to the tender offer in Chile and a total of 1,328,303 ADSs (including 1,860 ADSs subject to guarantees of delivery) have been tendered pursuant to the tender offer in the United States, which, together with the Shares tendered pursuant to the tender offer in Chile, represent an aggregate of 158,131,420 Shares. No Shares were tendered pursuant to the tender offer in the United States.
All Shares tendered in the tender offer in Chile will be accepted for payment on October 6, 2002, as required by Chilean law and in accordance with the terms of the offer in Chile, and all ADSs tendered in the tender offer in the United States have been accepted for payment in accordance with the terms of such offer.
Prior to completion of the tender offers, Ahold owned 70.2% (414,393,680 of the outstanding Shares of Santa Isabel (directly or in the form of ADSs). Upon purchase of the Shares and ADSs (including ADSs subject to guarantees of delivery) pursuant to the tender offers, Ahold's ownership in Santa Isabel will increase to 572,525,100 Shares (including those represented by ADSs) or approximately 97% of the total outstanding Shares, which will leave 17,878,497 Shares (including those represented by 66,416 ADSs) held by parties other than Ahold and its affiliates.
This press release contains "forward-looking" statements. Those forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements as to expectations as to the completion of proposed transactions. Those forward-looking statements are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in those forward-looking statements. Such factors include, but are not limited to, the effect of general economic conditions and the actions of government regulators. Fluctuations in exchange rates between the Euro and the other currencies in which Ahold's assets, liabilities or results are denominated, in particular the U.S. dollar and the Chilean peso, can also influence actual results as can other factors discussed in Ahold's public filings. Many of these factors are beyond Ahold's ability to control or estimate precisely. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements, which only speak as of the date of this press release. For a more detailed discussion of such risks and other factors, see Ahold's Annual Report on Form 20F for its most recent fiscal year. Ahold does not undertake any obligation to release publicly any revisions to those forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this press release or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events, except as may be required under applicable securities laws. Outside The Netherlands Koninklijke Ahold N.V., which is its registered name, presents itself under the name of "Royal Ahold" or simply "Ahold."