The Dutch retailer Ahold on Wednesday agreed to pay $297 million to settle U.S. class-action litigation accusing its former U.S. Foodservice distribution unit of defrauding thousands of hospitals and restaurants through overcharges. Ahold said it will take a 215 million euro charge in the first quarter for the settlement in principle, which requires approval by U.S. District Judge Alvin Thompson in Hartford, Connecticut.It remained liable even after selling U.S. Foodservice, now known as U.S. Foods, in 2007 to a group led by private equity firms Clayton, Dubilier & Rice and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts.The settlement came after the U.S. Supreme Court on April 28 refused to hear U.S. Foods' appeal of the class action, which covered about 75,000 customers.U.S. Foods is based in Rosemont, Illinois and employs about 25,000 people. Sysco Corp agreed in December to purchase the company for $3.5 billion, combining the two largest U.S. food distributors.
Sysco Corporation (Sysco), along with its subsidiaries and divisions, is a North American distributor of food and related products primarily to the foodservice or food-away-from-home industry. Shares of SYY fell by 0.86% or $-0.315/share to $36.16. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $31.13 and as high as $43.40. On average, 2813010 shares of SYY exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 636168.
Source
