Albertsons’ stock price soared during trading early Thursday, October 13, following reports that the retailer was in talks to merge with grocery giant Kroger.
An agreement could even be reached this week, people said, asking not to be identified discussing confidential information. No final decisions have been made and talks could still be delayed or falter, according to the people.
The exact structure and price of the deal was not able to be learned, and any potential transaction, may face antitrust scrutiny upon agreement and require various divestitures.
If a deal is reached, it would be among the largest US retail transactions in years, as well as the biggest US supermarket deal since the last time Albertsons changed hands back in 2006, which was when it was was bought by Supervalu, CVS Health Corp., and a group of investment firms for about US$9.8 billion, according to data gathered by Bloomberg.
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