Exhibit (a)(12)

                    SUPERMARKETS GENERAL HOLDINGS CORPORATION

                  200 Milik Street, Carteret, New Jersey 07008

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

                                                          Contact: Harvey Gutman
                                                                   732-499-3205

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Carteret, New Jersey, May 19, 1999. Supermarkets General Holdings Corporation
("SMGH") announced today that it and the other defendants in a purported
stockholder class action lawsuit have reached an agreement in principle with the
plaintiff to settle. The lawsuit, entitled Wolfson v. Supermarkets General
Holding Corporation, et. al., C.A. No. 17047, was filed on March 23, 1999, on
behalf of the holders of the SMGH preferred stock against SMGH and its
directors, its parent company SMG-II Holdings Corporation and Royal Ahold's
wholly-owned subsidiary Ahold Acquisition, Inc.

The action relates to the pending tender offer by Ahold Acquisition to purchase
all of the outstanding shares of preferred stock of SMGH at $38.25 per share
that was announced on March 9, 1999. The offer has been made pursuant to an
agreement under which Royal Ahold, the international food retailer, will acquire
all of the outstanding shares of the capital stock of SMG-II. SMG-II controls
the U.S. supermarket company Pathmark Stores, Inc.

The proposed settlement is subject to, among other things, execution of a
definitive settlement agreement and related documentation with the plaintiff and
the approval of the settlement by the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware
(the "Court"). Upon such approval becoming final, SMGH and Ahold Acquisition
have agreed that Ahold Acquisition will increase the offer price in its tender
offer to $40.25 per share of SMGH preferred stock, less any fees and expenses
awarded to plaintiff's counsel by the Court. Plaintiff's counsel currently
intends to apply to the Court for an award of fees and expenses in an aggregate
amount of $1,956,268.40, or $0.40 per share of SMGH preferred stock. Thus, if
the Court approves the settlement and the counsel for the plaintiff's petition
for fees and expenses in full, the amended offer price will be $39.85 per share
of SMGH preferred stock.

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