By Brent Kendall
WASHINGTON--WASHINGTON The U.S. Federal Trade Commission on
Tuesday cleared the merger of supermarket operators Safeway Inc.
and Albertsons after the companies agreed to sell 168 stores to
address the commission's competition concerns.
The merger, announced in March, was valued at about $9.4
billion. Safeway and privately held Albertsons announced the
store-divestiture plan last month. The stores will go to four
FTC-approved buyers.
The companies said that with antitrust clearance in place, they
expect to complete the merger within the next five business
days.
The FTC said that without the store sales, the merger would have
lessened competition in 130 local markets where the two chains
compete head-to-head. Those markets are in Arizona, California,
Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Texas, Washington and Wyoming.
The supermarket operators had argued that combining their
distribution and purchasing efforts would produce cost savings that
could be directed toward store improvements and lower prices. The
deal would create a larger competitor to Kroger Co., the biggest
U.S. grocery-store chain.
Albertsons is privately owned by an investor group led by
Cerberus Capital Management LP. Safeway will be delisted when the
merger closes.
Write to Brent Kendall at brent.kendall@wsj.com
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