BRUSSELS - December 15, 2000
- At an extraordinary shareholders meeting held today the shareholders of Delhaize Group renewed the authorization to the Board of Directors of Delhaize Group to repurchase shares
of the Company. The authorization allows the Board to purchase during the coming 18 months up to 10% of the total number of outstanding Delhaize Group shares.
The Board of Directors of Delhaize Group intends to purchase Delhaize Group shares up to EUR 400 million, if needed, notably to monitor a possible flowback of Delhaize Group
shares after the proposed share exchange for Delhaize America shares. Depending upon the market price of the Delhaize Group share at the time of purchase, a repurchase program of
up to EUR 400 million, upon completion of the program, should represent in excess of 8 % of the post transaction market value of Delhaize Group.
The shareholders of Delhaize Group also agreed to renew the authorization to the Board of Directors of Delhaize Group to increase the capital up to an amount of EUR 26 million
possibly with limitation or suppression of the preferential subscription rights of existing shareholders. The Board of Directors of Delhaize Group intends to use the authorized
share capital to issue the new Delhaize Group shares to be exchanged for the Delhaize America shares held by the minority shareholders. The authorized share capital could also be
used with respect to stock options plans in favor of associates of the Company and its subsidiaries.
On November 16, 2000, the Board of Directors of Delhaize Group and Delhaize America announced an agreement for a statutory share exchange pursuant to which Delhaize Group will
exchange each outstanding Class A and B share of Delhaize America not currently held directly or indirectly by Delhaize Group for 0.4 shares of Delhaize Group. The public
shareholders of Delhaize America will be offered the option to receive either Delhaize Group shares or American Depositary Shares in the form of American Depositary Receipts (ADRs)
listed on the New York Stock Exchange. The transaction is expected to be closed in Spring 2001.
Delhaize Group is a food retailer headquartered in Belgium and listed on Euronext Brussels. At the end of the third quarter of 2000, Delhaize Group's sales network had 2,300
stores in 11 countries on three continents. In 1999, Delhaize Group achieved sales of EUR 14.3 billion and net earnings of EUR 169.9 million.Delhaize Group employs 145,000 persons.
Investors and financial press contact
Guy Elewaut Tel.: + 32 (0) 2 412 29 48
Geoffroy d'Oultremont Tel.: + 32 (0) 2 412 83 21
Fax: + 32 (0) 2 412 29 76
e-mail: investor@delhaizegroup.com
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You can also find it on the web site http://www.delhaizegroup.com