Dutch retailer Ahold has received shareholder support on a $3bn rights issue to restore a balance sheet labouring under net debt of $11bn.

The group's chief financial officer Hannu Ryopponen said proceeds of the issue would save the group up to $200 million a year in interest payments.

The rights issue is being priced at $4.83 a share. The decision on pricing came alongside figures that the group made a net loss of e62m in the first nine months of the year, compared to a profit of d17m last year.

Anders Moberg, the group's new chief executive, has told shareholders: “Our past continues to instruct us every step of the way as we move forward to rebuild Ahold.”

Meanwhile, the group's chairman Henny de Ruiter has admitted for the first time that there had been a fraud at the troubled Dutch grocer. He told a packed shareholders meeting that Ahold would try to claw back money from those connected with the fraud at US Foodservice, the retailer's US arm.

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