Supermarket group Ahold is the only player left in the race to buy the Hema department store chain but it too has its doubts, the Financieele Dagblad reports on Monday, quoting insider sources.

High street favourite Hema was put up for sale by its owners Lion Capital nine weeks ago, but since then all the potential private equity buyers have pulled out, the paper says.
CVC and BC Partners were the last two to go, put off by Lion´s high asking price, the paper says. Lion bought Hema from the Maxeda retail group in 2007.
Market experts expect Lion is asking around €1.5bn for Hema, which has almost 500 stores in the Netherlands and a handful in Germany, Belgium and France. The company turned over €1.1bn last year but has debts of €1bn, the paper says.
One source told the FD Ahold has enough cash to pay for Hema but is worried about a negative reaction from shareholders.