AHOLD MOVES TO FINALIZE PEAPOD MERGER
e said it expected to complete its merger with Peapod late last week following completion of its tender offer for all outstanding common shares of the Internet-based shopping service. As part of the offer, Ahold paid $2.15 per share for Peapod stoc, in a deal valued at approximately $35 million. When the tender offer was completed, Ahold said it owned approximately 82.6% of Peapod's stock, up from 58%. The company said last week it planned to exercise warrants to purchase additional shares until it owned at least 90% of the common stock. Once it reached that goal, Ahold said it planned to make Peapod an indirect, wholly-owned Ahold subsidiary.
FDI PLANS SEMINARS TO FINE TUNE SHELF
FALLS CHURCH, Va. -- Food Distributors International here said it will hold two more regional training seminars to help retailers improve shelf-management practices -- one in early November in Chicago and another during the first quarter of 2002 in an as-yet-undetermined East Coast city. According to FDI, the seminars are designed to help members develop a step-by-step plan to analyze current practices and develop methods to improve performance in the areas of assortment, shelf management and display management, including speed-to-shelf improvements and planogram integrity -- subjects covered by FDI's In-Store Implementation Project that was released last year and the follow-up guidebook issued in March.