Ahold and Delhaize confirmed last month that they are in the early stages of merger talks, and analysts believe a deal could be struck this year. Ahold is the parent company for Ahold USA, which includes Giant Food, Martin’s, Stop & Shop, and Peapod. The Delhaize Group includes Delhaize America, which consists of Food Lion and Hannaford. Both companies are based in Europe.
Analysts said that both companies combined produced sales of $60.5 billion last year, of which about 61% came from the U.S.
The companies discussed a merger in 2006, but an agreement was not reached.
