Supermarket group Ahold is looking at ‘strategic options’ for its 60% stake in Swedish supermarket chain ICA, which could include a stock exchange launch.

Referring to last year’s new growth strategy, Ahold said in a press release on Tuesday it ‘aims to focus the execution of this strategy on businesses it controls, in order to create value’.
Hakon Invest of Sweden owns the remaining shares in ICA and said in a statement its ‘interest and influence’ in the group is not for sale.

Six months
During the review, which is expected to take six to 12 months, Ahold will ‘continue to work closely with Hakon in order to create the best conditions for ICA to continue to grow and achieve its goals’, the company said.
ICA is the market-leading food retailer in Sweden and also has stores in Norway and in the Baltics. In total, the 2,215 franchise and company-operated stores had turnover of €11bn last year.