Koninklijke Ahold, the Dutch retailer, has confirmed it will sell €2.5bn ($2.9bn) worth of assets by 2005 and raise between €2.5bn and €3bn through a rights offering which will be launched this month.

The Dutch company unveiled the capital injection and asset disposals on Friday as part of a three-year recovery program aimed at restoring its value following a difficult nine months in 2003 and a €1bn accounting scandal in February.