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Bidding picks up for Albertson's
Several groups reportedly showed interest in the supermarket chain in the final week for bids.
Compiled from staff and wire reports
Published December 10, 2005
The bidding for Albertson's Inc. - or at least pieces of it - has picked up in the final stretch.
Kroger, the Cincinnati grocery giant, is seeking to team with a group of private equity firms to bid on the Idaho food retailer, Reuters reported Friday. Kroger has reportedly approached buyout firms Bain Capital, Thomas H. Lee Partners and Warburg Pincus about a joint offer for Albertson's after deciding against a solo bid.
Another consortium consisting of Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., Texas Pacific Group and Apollo Management reportedly put in a bid this week. A third group made up of Cerberus Capital and Kimco Realty is bidding, and has been joined by grocer SuperValu Inc., Reuters indicated.
Final bids were due on Wednesday, but that deadline was thought to be flexible, allowing proposals to trickle in throughout the week.
The board of Albertson's was expected to meet this weekend to evaluate final offers to buy the chain. But a decision could take more than a week to reach since the offers were complicated, with some bidders, namely CVS Corp. and Walgreen Co., apparently wanting only the drugstore chain, Reuters indicated.
Albertson's put itself up for sale in September, hiring Goldman Sachs and the Blackstone Group to explore "strategic alternatives."
Analysts have predicted that the auction could bring in bids as high as $30 a share and said the price for Albertson's could top $16-billion including debt. But it was unclear Friday whether the company nabbed an offer topping its reported goal of at least $25 a share.
Like most traditional supermarkets, the chain has been suffering a slow decline. The growth of Wal-Mart Supercenters, natural foods retailers and extreme value chains such as Save-A-Lot continue to cost supermarkets dearly.
The fate of the parent will produce fallout in Florida.
The strategy for Albertson's has been to concentrate on markets where it is one of the two strongest supermarkets or has a shot at becoming one of them. Albertson's retreated from Miami a few years ago as a result.
But it doesn't have enough presence in Florida, where it has not opened a store in three years, to be much larger than fourth. The chain has 105 stores in Florida strung from the Panhandle to Broward County. It ranks fifth in the Tampa Bay area with a 7 percent market share.
Times staff writer Mark Albright contributed to this report.
[Last modified December 10, 2005, 00:51:18]
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