Dive Brief:
- Royal Ahold, the Dutch parent of owner of supermarket chains such as Stop & Shop and Giant, will pay $297 million to settle a class-action lawsuit related to improper accounting.
- The case is related to an accounting scandal in 2003 at then-subsidiary US Foodservice, which led to the resignations of Ahold's CEO and CFO.
- Shareholders and former clients had sued Ahold to recoup losses related to the scandal, which eventually led Ahold to restate profits by roughly $1 billion.
Dive Insight:
The settlement -- and the end of this scandal -- is a long time coming. Ahold said it's agreed to the deal in order to avoid lengthy litigation. That looks like a wise move, particularly since everyone else has seemingly moved on already.
US Foodservice was sold off to private equity investors and eventually rebranded as U.S. Foods. Today it's awaiting regulatory approval to merge with rival Sysco to create the biggest foodservice provider in the nation.