Tuesday, 28 November 2006 01:11

Albertson’s Sold Again

A new name in groceries may soon becoming to the county with the announcement yesterday that Save Mart Supermarkets is buying up 132 Albertson's grocery stores in Northern California and Nevada, a purchase that doubles the Modesto-based supermarket chain to 256 store according to both companies.

slide9The Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. The Boise, Idaho-based Albertson's LLC, was sold for about $9.7 billion in June to a consortium of stores that included grocery-store chain Supervalu Inc., CVS, Cerberus Capital Management and Kimco Realty. Cerebrus Capital Management operates over 500 stores -- mainly in California, the Southwest and Florida. New York-based Cerebrus said it sold its Northern California locations to Save Mart but still has other stores throughout the West. The deal includes 130 stores, two closed stores, two distribution centers and a division office in Dublin.

slide11Save Mart, a privately held company, plans to take over the stores by February. It currently operates 124 stores in California. Save Mart, a privately held company, pledged to keep all the Albertsons stores open, including 22 in the greater Sacramento area, but said it hasn't decided yet whether to retain the Albertsons name once the deal is completed in February.