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☆ Blocking Kroger’s mega-merger with Albertsons won’t save your local grocery store
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-27 | by ( Nathaniel Meyersohn | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

High grocery prices helped scuttle the dealInflation at the grocery store loomed over the proposed merger. Over the past four years, grocery prices have risen significantly,” the FTC said in its lawsuit. Kroger had committed to invest $500 million in lower prices and $1.3 billion to improve Albertsons’ stores if the merger cleared. Yet consolidation in the grocery sector is growing, and small grocery stores are struggling. Traditional grocery stores have also lost ground to Walmart, Costco, dollar stores and online retailers during that span.

Persons: it’s, Kroger, Ash, “, ” Greg Ferrara, Joe Biden, Lina Khan, Khan, Marc Perrone, ” Sen, Elizabeth Warren, ” Joe Feldman Organizations: New, New York CNN, Kroger, Albertsons ’, Albertsons, Walmart, FTC, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Albertsons Cos, Safeway, Bloomberg, Getty, Agriculture Department, Costco, Independent, National Grocers Association, Meta, Microsoft, Unions, Democrats, Food, Commercial Workers ’, ”, Top Democratic, Twitter, Aldi, Activision, Telsey Advisory Locations: New York, Scottsdale , Arizona

All fuel centers and pharmacies associated with the divested stores will remain with the stores and continue to operate. Kroger, based in Cincinnati, Ohio, bid $20 billion for Albertsons. C&S, which was founded in 1918, is a supplier to independent grocery stores, supplying more than 7,500 independent supermarkets, retail chain stores and military bases. It currently runs Grand Union grocery stores and Piggly Wiggly franchise and corporate-owned stores in the Midwest and Carolinas. Shares of Kroger Co., based in Ohio, rose 5% Thursday and Albertsons Cos., based in Idaho, rose 3%.

Persons: Debi Lilly Design, Primo Taglio, Kroger, ” Kroger, Rodney McMullen Organizations: Kroger, Albertsons, S Wholesale Grocers, Waterfront Bistro, Walmart, Amazon, Aldi, Winn, Dixie, Federal Trade Commission, Union, Kroger Co, Albertsons Cos Locations: Cincinnati , Ohio, Midwest, Carolinas, Ohio, Idaho

☆ Stocks making the biggest moves midday: Kroger, DocuSign, Planet Labs, First Solar and more
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-08 | by ( Brian Evans | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Kroger earned an adjusted 96 cents per share, beating an LSEG estimate of 91 cents per share. Planet Labs lost an adjusted 14 cents per share on revenue of $53.8 million. Analysts polled by LSEG expected a loss of 8 cents per share on revenue of $54.1 million. DocuSign reported an adjusted 72 cents per share and $688 million in revenue, while analysts polled by LSEG forecast an adjusted 66 cents and $678 million, respectively. First Solar — Shares of the solar panel maker gained 1.4% after Deutsche Bank upgraded the First Solar to buy from hold, citing the company's strong ongoing demand.

Persons: Victor Coleman, Kroger, LSEG, DocuSign, Davidson, Gary Friedman, Gilead, — CNBC's Pia Singh Organizations: Kroger Co, Albertsons Cos Inc, New York Stock Exchange, Hudson Pacific Properties, Hollywood, Avid, Labs, Planet Labs, LSEG, Deutsche Bank, Gilead Sciences, Bank of America Locations: New York City, California

The deal would give privately held C&S, primarily a supplier rather than an operator of grocery stores, a much more significant footprint. The stores that Kroger and Albertsons plan to shed are primarily in the Pacific Northwest and the Mountain states, along with some in California, Texas, Illinois, and the East Coast, the sources said. Bloomberg News reported about the talks between C&S, Kroger and Albertsons on Monday, as well as SoftBank's involvement but gave no information about the deal terms. Previously, Kroger and Albertsons said they may divest between 100 and 375 stores by placing them in a new company that Albertsons shareholders would own. In a regulatory filing Kroger said the upper limit for divestitures was 650 stores.

Persons: Rick Cohen, Cohen, SoftBank, Kroger, Ahold, Anirban Sen, Abigail Summerville, Juby Babu, Sherry Jacob, Phillips, Rashmi Aich, David Gregorio Our Organizations: Kroger, Albertsons Cos Inc, S Wholesale Grocers, Grand Union, Piggly, SoftBank Group Corp, Symbotic Inc, Albertsons, Bloomberg News, Thomson, & $ Locations: Pacific Northwest, California , Texas , Illinois, East Coast, New York, Bengaluru

The stores that Kroger and Albertsons may sell could be worth more than $1 billion, the sources said. Kroger and Albertsons will choose to proceed with the spin-off if they are unable to strike a deal with a potential buyer. Kroger, Albertsons and the FTC declined to comment. Haggen filed for bankruptcy months later and blamed the deal with Albertsons for its demise. Albertsons then agreed to buy many of the Haggen stores back for $300 million.

☆ Albertsons Sales up 8.5% on Higher Prices
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-10 | by ( Will Feuer | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Albertsons Cos. sales rose 8.5% in the recently ended quarter as higher prices for food and other household products continue to boost the grocer’s top line. The Boise, Idaho-based supermarket company, which operates its namesake stores as well as the Acme and Safeway chains, said identical sales—a metric that strips out store closings and openings—rose 7.9% in its fiscal third quarter.

☆ M&A Is Expected to Pick Up in 2023 as Companies Adapt to Tougher Conditions
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-06 | by ( Kristin Broughton | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +8 min

But many companies adapted, structuring deals to sidestep market volatility and minimize financing costs. Deal advisers expect M&A to pick up in 2023 following last year’s slump, though when that will happen remains an open question. That is especially true in the technology and healthcare sectors, where deals for high-growth companies are most common, she said. In addition to macroeconomic pressures, companies faced a tougher regulatory environment in 2022, with antitrust enforcers globally applying greater scrutiny to large transactions. Demand for such facilities in the U.S. jumped 17% in 2022 through Dec. 29 compared with the full-year 2021, to $317.3 billion, according to Dealogic.

NEW YORK/SAN FRANCISCO, Dec 16 (Reuters) - PepsiCo plans to roll out 100 heavy-duty Tesla Semis in 2023, when it will start using the electric trucks to make deliveries to customers like Walmart and Kroger, the soda maker's top fleet official told Reuters on Friday. PepsiCo is the first company to experiment with the battery-powered Tesla Semis as a way of cutting its environmental impact. When Tesla starts building them, PepsiCo "will rotate those up" into its fleet, he said. PepsiCo declined to share details on the price of the trucks, a figure that Tesla has kept quiet. O'Connell said that a 425-mile (684-km) trip carrying Frito-Lay products brings the Semi's battery down to roughly 20%, and recharging it takes around 35 to 45 minutes.

PepsiCo, which ordered the Semis in 2017, is the first company to experiment with them as a way of cutting its environmental impact. PepsiCo is deploying 36 electric trucks from Tesla, with 15 in Modesto and 21 in Sacramento, so far. When Tesla starts building them, PepsiCo "will rotate those up" into its fleet, he said. PepsiCo declined to share details on the price of the trucks, a figure that Tesla has kept quiet. O'Connell said that a 425-mile (684-km) trip carrying Frito-Lay products brings the Semi's battery down to roughly 20%, and recharging it takes around 35 to 45 minutes.

☆ Albertsons’ $4 Billion Dividend Payout Remains Blocked as Washington State Attorney General Seeks Appeal
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-10 | by ( Jaewon Kang | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Kroger is the top U.S. supermarket operator by sales. A Washington state judge on Friday extended a temporary restraining order blocking a $4 billion dividend that Albertsons Cos. planned to pay its shareholders amid its plans to be bought by Kroger Co.Judge Ken Schubert for the King County Superior Court in Washington sided with Albertsons and Kroger, allowing Albertsons to pay the dividend. The ruling came after the state’s attorney general filed a lawsuit in November against the companies to block the dividend.

☆ Albertsons’ $4 Billion Dividend Payout Remains Blocked
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-10 | by ( Jaewon Kang | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

☆ Kroger, Albertsons Expected to Defend Grocery Merger at Senate Hearing
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-29 | by ( Jaewon Kang | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

An Atlanta store operated by Kroger, the largest U.S. supermarket chain by sales. Chief executives of the two largest U.S. supermarket chains are set to testify Tuesday at a Senate subcommittee hearing, where they are expected to defend their companies’ proposed $20 billion merger and address questions about how it could affect American grocers and consumers. Kroger Co. CEO Rodney McMullen and Albertsons Cos. CEO Vivek Sankaran are expected to testify before the Subcommittee on Competition Policy, Antitrust and Consumer Rights, led by Sens. Amy Klobuchar (D., Minn.) and Mike Lee (R., Utah).

☆ Zero-Based Budgeting, Currency Hedges Among the Tools CFOs Can Use to Weather Headwinds
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-27 | by ( Nina Trentmann | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +6 min

One area to which finance chiefs scouting for efficiencies have turned is zero-based budgeting, a tool that gained popularity early in the pandemic and requires finance executives to question and justify each line item in every new budget period. Reese’s peanut-butter cup maker Hershey Co., based in Pennsylvania, regularly goes through every line of its profit and loss statement, Finance Chief Steve Voskuil said. Detroit-based General Motors Co. is slowing and in some areas even freezing hiring, and homing in on other fixed costs, Chief Financial Officer Paul Jacobson has said. Facing high inflation and an uncertain outlook, finance chiefs are using zero-based budgeting to lower expenses in areas including operations, real estate, logistics, sales and marketing. Finance executives at large U.S. companies, including Coca-Cola Co. and materials-science company Dow Inc., are increasing their foreign-currency hedges and covering longer time periods.

☆ The C-Suite Survival Guide to Inflation and Economic Turbulence
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-27 | by ( Brian Hershberg | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +5 min

C-suite executives and other business leaders are planning for a period where inflation is sticky, interest rates are rising, the geopolitical landscape is fraught with tumult and the economy is slowing. U.S. retailers, for instance, are struggling to balance consumer expectations for discounts and the need to keep raising prices to offset high inflation. Real-estate companies are finding it costly to hedge their floating-rate debt amid surging interest costs, and even highly rated companies are pursuing term loans instead of bonds to save on interest costs. In Europe, the war in Ukraine is driving inflation, food shortages, and the prospect of a long, cold winter. Here is how marketing executives can continue to sell their brands to consumers during tight times.

☆ Labor union Teamsters ratifies contract at Kroger
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-21 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

Nov 21 (Reuters) - Labor union International Brotherhood of Teamsters said on Monday a new national contract at U.S. grocery chain Kroger Co (KR.N) has been ratified with overwhelming support. The five-year master agreement covers over 1,500 Kroger workers nationwide and provides significant improvements to wages, benefits and working conditions, the organization said in a statement. This comes as Kroger looks to complete its $25 billion deal for smaller rival Albertsons Cos Inc (ACI.N). Teamsters at Kroger voted by an 88% to ratify the contract, the union said, adding for the first time the national negotiating committee included rank-and-file members working in the industry. Reporting by Granth Vanaik in Bengaluru; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri and Sriraj KalluvilaOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Albertsons Faces Outrage in Aisle Five
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-07 | by ( Jinjoo Lee | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Want to stoke public anger about rising food prices and corporate greed? Supermarket giant Albertsons Cos., which announced a merger agreement with Kroger Co. last month alongside a generous special dividend payout, has unwittingly done just that. The company was due to distribute $4 billion in special dividends to shareholders Monday but was blocked from doing so last Thursday by a Washington state court’s temporary restraining order. Albertsons said it seeks to overturn the restraint as quickly as possible. Attorneys general of California, Illinois and Washington, D.C., also sought a temporary restraining order last week to stop the dividend payout.

☆ Investors will reap billions if Kroger takes over Albertsons. Workers and shoppers may not be as happy.
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-05 | by ( Gretchen Morgenson | Gretchen Morgenson Is The Senior Financial Reporter For The Nbc News Investigative Unit. A Former Stockbroker | She Won The Pulitzer Prize In For Her | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +11 min

Wealthy investors in Safeway’s parent, Albertsons Companies, have done better. And next week, they were slated to reap a $4 billion cash dividend in connection with a proposed $25 billion takeover of Albertsons by rival Kroger. Based on that stake and the amount of the dividend, Cerberus stands to receive roughly $1 billion of the dividend payout. Six of Albertsons’ 14 directors who voted for the dividend are affiliated with the major investors. This is the last, best and final hope for a truly unionized chain.”Nervous about the pensionThe proposed $4 billion cash dividend is large by many measures.

☆ Washington State Commissioner Temporarily Blocks Albertsons Dividend Payout
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-04 | by ( Jaewon Kang | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

A Washington state court commissioner temporarily blocked a $4 billion dividend that Albertsons Cos. had intended to pay its shareholders next week, announced when the grocer agreed to merge with rival Kroger Co. in a $20 billion deal last month. Commissioner Henry Judson for the King County Superior Court in Washington said during a hearing Thursday that he will grant a temporary restraining order to stop the planned dividend. The ruling came after the state’s attorney general filed a lawsuit this week against the companies to block the payment, which was initially scheduled for Nov. 7.

☆ Kroger-Albertsons Merger Draws Questions From Politicians, Workers
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-02 | by ( Jaewon Kang | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Elected officials, independent grocers and union groups are airing concerns and in some cases pushing back on the proposed deal between Kroger Co. and Albertsons Cos. as antitrust officials are set to begin reviewing the supermarket megamerger. Kroger in October announced it would acquire Albertsons, saying that a deal would help them boost their scale and technology, and better compete with larger rivals. Antitrust attorneys expect the deal to face a lengthy regulatory review, and the companies plan to submit details of their merger plan to the Federal Trade Commission around Thursday, according to a letter viewed by The Wall Street Journal. It isn’t unusual for consumer groups, workers, lawmakers and competitors to voice questions about large mergers after they are proposed.

☆ Washington state sues to block Albertsons' $4 bln payout to shareholders
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-02 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Nov 1 (Reuters) - Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson filed a lawsuit on Tuesday to block grocery chain Albertsons Cos Inc (ACI.N) from paying dividends to shareholders before closure of its proposed merger with supermarket operator Kroger Co (KR.N). The $4 billion payout to shareholders "risks severely undercutting the grocery giant's ability to compete during the lengthy time period government regulators — including Washington — will be scrutinizing the merger," according to a statement posted to the Washington Attorney General's website. "Paying out $4 billion before regulators can do their job and review the proposed merger will weaken Albertsons' ability to continue business operations and compete," Ferguson said. Kroger and Albertsons did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the AG's lawsuit. Late in October, District of Columbia Attorney General Karl Racine said that half-a-dozen state attorneys general are digging into Kroger planned acquisition of Albertsons.

☆ Albertsons Shareholders Set to Receive $4 Billion Dividend
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-24 | by ( Jaewon Kang | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Albertsons has said the dividend isn’t conditioned on a merger with rival Kroger. Albertsons Cos. is set to pay a $4 billion dividend to its shareholders after fighting opposition for months from attorneys general who tried to block it, as the supermarket operator works to seal a merger with rival Kroger Co.Boise, Idaho-based Albertsons said the dividend would be paid Friday to shareholders who held the stock at the close of business on Oct. 24, 2022.

The announcement by Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar, chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee antitrust panel, and Republican Senator Mike Lee confirmed a previous report by Reuters. A Kroger spokesperson said the company looked forward to the hearing. "We welcome the opportunity to outline how this transaction will benefit America’s consumers by expanding access to fresh, affordable food," the company said in a statement. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterSeparately, Klobuchar and fellow Democrats Richard Blumenthal and Cory Booker released a letter expressing concern about the deal. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterReporting by David Shepardson and Diane Bartz; Editing by Franklin Paul, Josie Kao and David GregorioOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

The spin-out structure would make it easier and faster for Kroger and Albertsons to divest stores if they cannot easily sell them outright, people familiar with the arrangement said. The companies may struggle to find many buyers because Albertsons' stores are unionized, making them less attractive to potential bidders such as private equity firms. Kroger and Albertsons are likely to shed their least profitable stores and keep the best ones to themselves, analysts said. That region contains the most store-overlap between Kroger and Albertsons and is where divestitures are most likely, according to analysts. They intend for the spun-off company to not carry any debt, the sources added.

☆ Top Republican on Senate antitrust panel promises oversight of grocery deal
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-14 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

WASHINGTON, Oct 14 (Reuters) - The top Republican on a U.S. Senate antitrust panel, Senator Mike Lee, promised on Friday that there would be significant oversight of a plan by Kroger Co (KR.N) to buy rival Albertsons Cos Inc (ACI.N). "Utahns, like all Americans, are suffering from skyrocketing food prices," Lee said in a statement. "I will do everything in my power to ensure our antitrust laws are robustly enforced to protect consumers from anticompetitive mergers that could further exacerbate the financial strain we already feel in the grocery store checkout aisle." The $24.6 billion deal was announced Friday. read moreRegister now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterReporting by Diane BartzOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

The companies said Kroger agreed to buy Albertsons for $34.10 a share in a deal valued at $24.6 billion. The tie-up comes during a challenging time in the grocery industry. The grocery industry is highly fragmented. Albertsons’ share was about 5%. Consolidation in the grocery industry has not historically paid off in the form of higher profits, he said.

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