UPDATE 1-Ahold better fit without some of U.S. -Delhaize
(Adds further comment from CFO, background)
BRUSSELS, March 15 (Reuters) - Belgium's Delhaize DELBt.BR would find Dutch rival Ahold (AHLN.AS) a better fit without some of the latter's U.S. operations, notably its U.S. Foodservice unit, Delhaize's chief financial officer said on Thursday.
"It becomes more complementary," Craig Owens said in response to a question after the company's 2006 results news conference.
The comments reignited speculation that the two may seek some form of merger, sending shares in Ahold up 4.0 percent by 1215 GMT. Delhaize shares were up 2.6 percent while the Dow Jones Stoxx European retail index .SXRP was up 2.5 percent.
Bowing to shareholder pressure, Ahold is selling catering supplies unit U.S. Foodservice, which analysts say could fetch more than $6 billion. Several private equity teams have put in bids, sources close to the process have told Reuters.
Ahold's U.S. retail chains Stop & Shop, Giant-Landover and Giant-Carlisle are mainly located along the northeastern seaboard from New Hampshire to New Jersey. Delhaize is also active down the east coast.
"Geographically, there's no question that Ahold is adjacent to us in tons of places but there's also no question that in the United States there are overlaps," Owens said.
Overlaps could lead antitrust authorities to make the groups sell some assets should they ever merge.
"I think they are struggling with some of their concepts in the U.S.," Owens also said.
U.S. OPPORTUNITIES
Nevertheless, he said Delhaize would not rule out looking at the Ahold file if it came on to the market.
"In a consolidating industry where certain opportunities come up, we wouldn't rule out possibilities."
However, when asked if a deal that just involved Ahold's Dutch operations would be attractive, he stressed that this was not Delhaize's main interest.
"A combination with Ahold is not at the core of our strategy," he said.
Delhaize Chief Executive Pierre-Olivier Beckers earlier said during the news conference that the group was more interested in fill-in acquisitions or deals that would help enter adjacent markets.
Regarding the Netherlands, he said the market was very concentrated, with high barriers to entry. "There aren't obvious options there," he said.
The United States meanwhile offers better opportunities for the group to push into adjacent markets, expanding from a state where it was already present into another state.
"The U.S. market is a lot less consolidated and also because when you talk about moving into an adjacent market, you are not talking about a new country with the barriers such as language and a different type of client you have in Europe."
Owens said the group believed it had a lot of opportunities in Greece, where its Alfa-Beta chain is the second-largest group.
Furthermore, he said Germany, where it hoped to have four stores by the end of the year, was enticing. "I'm not sure we'll exploit the German market but, if we could open a piece of the German market, that would be a massive opportunity."
((Reporting by Emma Davis, editing by Quentin Bryar; e-mail: emma.davis@reuters.com; Reuters Messaging: emma.davis.reuters.com@reuters.net; tel: +32 2 287 6810)) Keywords: DELHAIZE AHOLD/
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