May 24, 2005. /Lesprom Network/. Royal Ahold NV said Chief Financial Officer Hannu Ryopponen, who helped restore investor confidence after accounting fraud, is leaving after two years in the job to join Finland's Stora Enso Oyj. Ryopponen, 53, will stay at Ahold until Aug. 31, Chief Executive Officer Anders Moberg said on a conference call today. He will become CFO and deputy CEO at Stora, the world's largest paper company, the next day. A search for a successor will begin immediately, and Moberg said he hopes to end it before Ryopponen leaves. A former colleague of Moberg at Swedish retailer Ikea, Ryopponen helped Ahold raise Euro 3 billion ($3.8 billion) in a rights offer, meet a goal for asset disposals ahead of schedule and renegotiate a Euro 2 billion credit line. He was hired in 2003 to assist in restructuring Ahold's finances after the company, the world's fourth- largest food retailer, said it overstated earnings for three years. "It's slightly unnerving and unsettling, but only slightly,'' said Oscar Poos, an analyst at Fortis Bank in Amsterdam who rates Ahold a "buy."' "Obviously it would be preferable to have a stable situation, but all the major financial work has been done.'' Ryopponen said the restructuring of the company's balance sheet was the "cornerstone'' of his legacy at Ahold. The Zaandam, Netherlands-based company had more than Euro 12 billion in debt when he took the post and now expects a debt level of Euro 5.5 billion to Euro 6 billion by year-end. Ahold aims to regain its investment-grade credit profile by that time. For his efforts, Ryopponen was paid a total compensation of Euro 2.04 million in 2004, according to Ahold's annual report. "Instrumental' Role The shares fell as much as Euro 0.1, or 1.6%, to Euro 6 . They have declined 17% of their value since Ryopponen was named to the post on June 19, 2003. The company has a market value of about Euro 9.4 billion ($11.8 billion). The CFO had worked with Moberg at retailer Ikea, which they helped turn into the world's largest home-furnishings seller. The partnership was seen by some analysts, including ING Wholesale Banking's Fernand de Boer, as "rather close,'' raising concern that his departure could make running Ahold less attractive to Moberg. Moberg said he is "fully committed'' to Ahold. "I regret Hannu is leaving,'' Moberg, 55, said. The CFO's achievements "have been instrumental in getting the company back on track.'' Moberg said Ahold will look for someone who will build on what Ryopponen has done. "We regret that Mr. Ryopponen will leave the company,'' De Boer said. " Ahold has been doing very well in the restructuring process; the financial restructuring is going particularly well and we give Mr. Ryopponen a lot of credit for the financial restructuring.'' De Boer recommends investors hold Ahold shares. "New Challenge" Ryopponen said his departure had nothing to do with Ahold. He said that the "new challenge was very tempting'' and that it was an opportunity for him to match his personal life to his professional one since the job will be based in London, which the Finnish-born executive considers home. He has lived abroad since 1977. He declined to comment on whether he will eventually become head of Helsinki- based Stora Enso. At closely held Ikea, Ryopponen was executive vice president for finance. With Moberg, he expanded the company across Europe and into Asia. The success of Ikea, which encourages thrift among employees to keep prices down, made founder Ingvar Kamprad the world's sixth-richest man, according to Forbes Magazine in March. Ahold said in February 2003 that its top executives were stepping down after discovering earnings had been inflated at its U.S. Foodservice business. The shares fell 63% in a single day and are down 27% since the announcement. Moberg last week told shareholders that Ahold will keep U.S. Foodservice, whose future had been under review since the accounting fraud, because keeping the business will create more value than selling it would. U.S. prosecutors in January charged nine people who worked for companies that supplied Columbia, Maryland-based U.S. Foodservice with falsifying documents that helped managers at the Ahold unit conceal inflated earnings. The business will be as profitable next year as it was in 2002, Moberg said.