Supermarket giants Kroger and Albertsons have agreed to delay their proposed merger until after a Colorado judge rules on the state’s request to permanently block it, eliminating the need for a preliminary injunction hearing scheduled for Aug. 12.
The companies signed on to an injunction that they won’t close on a merger until five days after Judge Andrew Luxen “until five business days after this Court rules on the State’s request for a permanent injunction (should the court deny it).”
“I am pleased that Kroger and Albertsons agreed to halt their plans to merge until the court rules on the state’s lawsuit to permanently block the grocery merger,” Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser said. “This is great news for shoppers, workers, farmers, and other suppliers, who can rest assured that this mega-merger will not go into effect during harvest season and while kids are headed back to school.
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“The trial is set to begin on Sept. 30 and my office looks forward to making the case that this merger will eliminate competition and impact food prices, jobs, and consumer choice,” he said.
The two companies operate more than 5,000 stores around the country.
Under a divestiture plan released earlier this month that the companies said “responds to concerns raised by federal and state antitrust regulators regarding the original agreement,” they plan to sell 579 of them to C&S Wholesale Grocers. The United Food and Commercial Workers Union has questioned C&S’s ability to take on that many stores.
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