Albertsons is terminating its attempted merger with Kroger and suing the rival company a day after a federal judge blocked the deal.
The grocery industry’s biggest potential alliance is toast.
Albertsons said Wednesday that it is terminating Kroger’s attempted $24.6 billion acquisition, a day after a federal judge blocked the deal due to antitrust concerns.
In addition, Albertsons filed a lawsuit in the Delaware Court of Chancery against its rival, saying it failed to exercise « best efforts » to get approval for the deal.
« 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 », Albertsons’ General Counsel and Chief Policy Officer Tom Moriarty said in a statement.
