Grocery Chain Announces Kroger Lawsuit in Separate Press Release
Albertsons Companies, Inc. has announced the termination of its proposed merger with Kroger following injunctions issued by the U.S. District Court in Oregon and the King County Superior Court in Washington on December 10, 2024.
“Given the recent federal and state court decisions to block our proposed merger with Kroger, we have made the difficult decision to terminate the merger agreement. We are deeply disappointed in the courts’ decisions,” said Vivek Sankaran, CEO of Albertsons Companies.
In a separate statement, Albertson’s announced that it has filed a lawsuit against The Kroger Company for willful breach of contract and breach of the covenant of good faith and fair dealing arising from Kroger’s failure to exercise “best efforts” and to take “any and all actions” to secure regulatory approval of the companies agreed on merger transaction. Albertson’s said that this was The Kroger Company’s responsibility under the merger agreement.
The charges state that The Kroger Company repeatedly refused to divest assets necessary for antitrust approval, ignored regulators’ feedback, rejected stronger divestiture buyers, and failed to cooperate with Albertsons.
Tom Moriarty, Albertsons’ General Counsel and Chief Policy Officer “A successful merger between Albertsons and Kroger would have delivered meaningful benefits for America’s consumers, Kroger’s and Albertsons’ associates, and communities across the country. Rather than fulfill its contractual obligations to ensure that the merger succeeded, Kroger acted in its own financial self-interest, repeatedly providing insufficient divestiture proposals that ignored regulators’ concerns.”
The Kroger Company’s response accused Albertson’s of “repeated intentional material breaches and interference throughout the merger process.” and that they refuted Albertson’s claims in the lawsuit in “the strongest possible terms.”
Closures of Albertson’s and its affiliated stores, Vons and Pavilions, were announced by the company earlier this year during the attempted merger process, including stores in Beverly Hills, Inglewood, West Hollywood, and Malibu. It is unclear whether or not those closures will still take place. We will update the story once that information is available.
