Ahold to acquire Delhaize
Under the deal, Ahold will have a 61% stake in the combined business, which will have sales of 54.1 billion euros (c.$60.5bn) and more than 6,500 stores worldwide, including more than 2,000 in the United States and the rest in the Netherlands, Belgium and eastern Europe.
Together, they account for almost 5% of the US grocery market, according to Euromonitor.
Ahold CEO Dick Boer, who will lead the new company, said he did not expect any major regulatory barriers to the deal, which is set to close in mid-2016.
"We're really complementary to each other in most of our markets, that's the uniqueness of this merger," he said.
The combined company, which will be named Ahold Delhaize, with its HQ in The Netherlands, will serve more than 50 million customers every week in the United States and Europe, said Boer.
