Former Ahold exec to open retail chain

Luc de Jong, who worked at Ahold for 20 years, will head a new Russian discount retail chain. The stores are expected to resemble the C1000 chain in the Netherlands, but would have a different name.(C1000 is a value for money service format in the market middle.) The new chain will also be managed by several former Ahold executives as well as Sergei Vereshchagin and Oleg Trykin, the main shareholders in the Smart Value chain, of which De Jong now works as general director.

"We will open the first shop in July 2008 and then we will build an extensive network across all of Russia," said De Jong. He also stated that Ahold would help the venture in a technical and consultancy capacity but would not take an equity stake in Smart Value. He did not rule out, however, that the two firms might eventually unite.

In March, both De Jong and Trykin cut their stake in Azbuka Vkusa (The ABC of Taste) - another retail chain that they founded - from 50% to 20%. They sold the stake to the former owners of Expobank for a sum estimated by analysts to be around €50 million. At the time, they said they planned invest the proceeds in new projects.