Kroger for the first time Tuesday identified the nearly 600 U.S. stores it plans to sell off to a competitor to secure approval for its $24.6 billion purchase of rival Albertsons.
Kroger Co. announced plans to acquire Albertsons Cos., which owns Safeway, in October 2022. In a bid to mollify antitrust regulators, the two companies said they would sell 579 stores to New Hampshire-based C&S Wholesale Grocers for $1.9 billion.
The companies had not previously disclosed which stores would be sold.
(Can’t see the table? Click here.)
The companies also plan to sell distribution centers in Arizona, Colorado, Utah and Washington state and a dairy plant in Denver.
The two supermarket giants are awaiting a trial set for Aug. 26 in federal court in Oregon after the Federal Trade Commission and nine states filed suit in February to halt the merger.
Federal regulators argued and the state attorneys general argued that combining Kroger with Albertsons would lessen competition and give the merged chain too much control over grocery prices and employees’ wages.
-- Kristine de Leon covers the retail industry, small business and data enterprise stories. Reach her at kdeleon@oregonian.com.