May 7 (Bloomberg) -- Majid Al Futtaim Group named Royal Ahold NV's Anders Moberg as its chief executive officer, tapping the former Ikea chief to lead the Dubai-based mall developer's expansion across the Arab world.

Moberg, Ahold's 57-year-old outgoing chief, will take the job on July 1, succeeding Francois de Montaudouin, the Dubai- based company said today. Moberg unexpectedly resigned last month from Ahold, the Dutch owner of the Stop & Shop and Giant chains in the U.S., after turning the company around following an accounting scandal.

Majid Al Futtaim, the ninth-richest Arab with wealth of $3.5 billion according to the Arabian Business magazine, last month announced plans for Mirdif City Centre -- a $710 million Dubai mall with French superstore owner Carrefour SA as its anchor tenant. Moberg, a Swede, was hired by Ahold in 2003 after the company overstated three years of earnings. The former Ikea CEO sold more than 30 units, slashed debt and returned the company to profit in 2004.

``The Majid Al Futtaim group is experiencing high growth and seeing promising opportunities,'' Chairman Pehr Gyllenhammar said in the statement. ``Anders Moberg should be very well suited to lead the group through this next phase.''

De Montaudouin, 49, was the former managing director of Rallye SA, the French company that controls the Casino Guichard Perrachon SA grocery chain. Majid Al Futtaim said the executive had decided to leave.

New Markets

As chief of Swedish home-furnishing chain Ikea from 1986 to 1999, Moberg expanded across Europe and into Asia. He then joined Home Depot Inc to head the U.S. home-improvement retailer's international division before joining Ahold.

The Majid Al Futtaim group is starting operations in new markets in the Middle East and North Africa, Gyllenhammar said. Dubai, the second-largest sheikhdom in the U.A.E. and the Middle East's fastest-growing city, will have 4.25 million square meters of mall space by 2010, according to U.K. real- estate brokers Colliers CRE Plc.

The Group, since opening its first mall in 1995, now operates four in the U.A.E., two in Egypt and one in Oman and attracts 85 million shoppers annually. Its Mall of the Emirates in Dubai, which opened in September 2005, includes an artificially built ski slope, the size of about three football fields and is a big tourist draw.

Al Futtaim has also announced a $2 billion investment plan for Syria as well as an entry into Bahrain.

Moberg Magic

Shares of Amsterdam-based Ahold more than doubled under Moberg's tenure. The company has named Chief Financial Officer John Rishton as acting CEO.

Moberg is receiving a year's base salary and a bonus paid over two years as part of his agreement to leave the Dutch company. The executive's departure and Ahold's sale of its U.S. Foodservice unit last week for $7.1 billion have stoked speculation the company may merge with Belgium's Delhaize Group.

Ahold's European assets include Albert Heijn, the largest grocery chain in the Netherlands.

To contact the reporter on this story: Joram Kanner in Amsterdam at jkanner@bloomberg.net; Celeste Perri in Amsterdam at at cperri@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: May 7, 2007 09:28 EDT