Supermarket giants Kroger and Albertsons have released a list of nearly 600 stores they would sell if their $24.6 billion merger is approved.
The chains offered in April to sell 579 stores in communities with overlap between Kroger and Albertsons markets to C&S Wholesale Grocers for $2.9 billion.
In addition to the stores, Kroger and Albertsons also agreed to sell six warehouses and a dairy plant in Denver to C&S. The stores agreed to the sale as an antitrust measure required by federal regulators overseeing the planned merger of the two companies.
Kroger and Albertsons operate nearly 5,000 stores in the United States. In addition to Kroger stores, the company also operates Ralphs and Harris Teeter stores, while Albertsons operates its own stores as well as Safeway, Acme and Jewel-Osco stores.
The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) filed a lawsuit against the merger of the two companies in February, arguing that the planned mega-grocer could drive up food prices and reduce store employees’ wages.
Kroger and Albertsons initially offered to sell 413 stores to C&S Wholesale, but regulators rejected the deal on the grounds that C&S would then be left with only a handful of stores in isolated markets and that it would have little impact on curbing the Kroger-Albertsons group’s dominant position in the market.
To make the business more attractive, the companies subsequently proposed opening another 166 stores, six distribution centers and a dairy.
The states where most stores are sold are Washington with 124 stores, Arizona with 101, Colorado with 91 and California with 63.
The new plan also transfers the Haggen Store brand name to C&S Wholesale and gives C&S the Albertsons brand name in Arizona and Colorado.
Under the proposed deal, C&S would continue to operate all of the sold stores and comply with all existing grocery retailer collective bargaining agreements.
Regulators have not yet announced whether they will accept the deal. Kroger and Albertsons have argued the merger is necessary to compete with mega-retailers such as Walmart and Amazon.
While the companies await a decision from the FTC, a coalition of local United Food & Commercial Workers unions representing grocery workers continues to oppose the merger.
“Today’s announcement changes nothing,” the unions said in a statement. “We remain focused on stopping the proposed mega-merger for the same reasons we have cited since it was first announced over 20 months ago – because we know it would hurt workers, buyers, suppliers and the community, and because it is illegal.”
