Belgian supermarket chain Delhaize and Dutch peer Ahold have suspended talks to create an alliance or possible merger, a Belgian daily said on Saturday. Referring to industry and financial sources De Tijd said there were two explanations for the suspension of talks.
First, that there had been personal friction between the negotiators and secondly that recent reports in Belgian and Dutch media had led to the talks being suspended. One source told the paper "It's better to press the pause button until the issue has cooled down."