Amsterdam, April 5 - Dutch food retailer Ahold is looking to buy Dutch-based retail franchise Hema, a move which could attract a bid of at least 1 billion euros ($1.34 billion), a newspaper reported on Thursday.
Shares in Ahold, the world's fourth-biggest food retail and foodservice group measured by sales, were down by close to 2 percent as analysts questioned the wisdom of a shift into the non-food sector during a sale and revamp of its U.S. assets.
"It does not fit with the group's strategy of selling assets to focus on the core assets and to improve returns on net assets," John David Roeg, analyst at ING, wrote in a note.
Ahold led losers in the DJ Stoxx retail index, down 1.95 percent at 9.0 euros by 0901 GMT. The stock had earlier hit a fresh year high at 9.24 euros.
The daily Financieele Dagblad cited unnamed sources for Ahold's interest in Hema, a household name with a reputation for selling no-nonsense, affordable non-food items and a modest range of foods like cakes and wine.
A bid for Hema, owned by privately held Maxeda and with more than 1.3 billion euros in annual sales, would amount to at least 1 billion euros, the newspaper reported.
Ahold, Hema and Maxeda declined to comment.
Ahold is selling its U.S. Foodservice catering supplies unit after coming under pressure from activist shareholders Centaurus Capital and Paulson & Co. to break up the company to boost profitability and is also revamping its U.S. retail activities.
Ahold owns the Netherlands' biggest supermarket chain Albert Heijn but makes two-thirds of its sales in the United States.
A move into non-food retail could displease some shareholders, said ING analyst Roeg.
"Shareholders would not like it. They are invested in Ahold for the value recovery potential, not for a new value-destroying acquisition," he said, pointing to Hema's mixed track record over the last two decades and its seasonally volatile earnings.
Other analysts were more upbeat.
"Hema would add 5 percent to Ahold's group sales and 12 percent to total Dutch sales," Rabo Securities wrote in a note.
Maxeda put Hema up for sale last month, saying it had interest from prospective bidders from the Netherlands and abroad.
Hema has 355 stores across the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and Luxembourg.
Maxeda, renamed from Vendex KBB in 2006, owns Dutch department stores V&D, womenswear outlets Claudia Straeter and M&S, luxury department outlets Bijenkorf, lingerie maker Hunkemoeller and DIY retail chains Praxis, Formido, Brico and Plan-it.
It was acquired by private equity funds Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., Permira, Cinven and Alpinvest Partners NV in 2004 and delisted.