Ahold, the Dutch supermarket group, has sold its Spanish retail assets to private equity company Permira for E685m (£470m). Ahold has 600 outlets in Spain and the Canaries, which include the HiperSol and Netto brands, which totalled net sales of E2bn (£1.3bn) in 2003.

The sale is part of a E2.5bn (£1.7bn) Road to Recovery cash-raising exercise to reduce Ahold’s debt.