KKR-owned Dutch retailer V&D, union reach agreement

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - V&D, a Dutch department store chain partly owned by private equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, reached an agreement on Friday with its union on a disputed wage deal.

V&D withdrew its request for staff to delay a pay rise to save jobs in the recession, a measure opposed by Dutch union FNV.

"The parties understand each other's position," FNV Director Henk van der Ploeg said in a statement. "V&D is now in a trough, but not in a position where jobs should be lost."

Under a new collective labour agreement, which runs for a year from February to July of 2011, V&D has promised not to adopt any reorganisations and employees will receive holiday days instead of a lump sum payment.

V&D is part of Dutch retail group Maxeda, which was bought by KKR and private equity funds Permira, Cinven and AlpInvest Partners in 2004 for 2.4 billion euros (2 billion pounds).

(Reporting by Reed Stevenson; Editing by Jon Loades-Carter)