Kroger and Albertsons announce sale of 14 Alaska grocery stores among more than 400 if merger goes through

This story has been updated with an Anchorage Daily News story, Kroger and Albertsons propose selling Carrs Safeway grocery stores in Alaska as part of $24.6 billion merger plan.

Earlier story:

Supermarket giants Kroger and Albertsons announced Friday they will sell off more than 400 stores, including 14 Albertsons-owned stores in Alaska, and other assets for $1.9 billion as part of their efforts to complete their proposed $24.6 billion merger.

The plan is to sell 413 stores — including some from Albertsons’ Safeway, which owns Alaska’s Carrs stores — in 17 states and the District of Columbia to New Hampshire-based C&S Wholesale Grocers, the companies said in a news release.

Individual locations were not disclosed. The divestiture plan includes 14 stores from the Albertsons portfolio in Alaska.

All fuel centers and pharmacies associated with the divested stores will remain with the stores and continue to operate.

[Alaska unions urge Biden administration to block Albertsons-Kroger merger]

The agreement also includes selling eight distribution centers and two corporate offices to C&S Wholesale Grocers.

C&S, which was founded in 1918, is a supplier to independent grocery stores, supplying more than 7,500 independent supermarkets, retail chain stores and military bases. It currently runs Grand Union grocery stores and Piggly Wiggly franchise and corporate-owned stores in the Midwest, the Carolinas, New York and Vermont.

The divestiture is part of a move to mollify antitrust regulars at the Federal Trade Commission.

Kroger, the nation’s largest supermarket chain, which bought Fred Meyer in 1998, announced plans in October to buy its next largest competitor, Albertsons Cos. Inc., in a $24.6 billion deal. The deal is targeted to close early next year.

The acquisition, which the companies say would allow them to take on the likes of Walmart and Amazon, comes as shoppers continue to battle historic inflation at grocery stores.

The deal contemplates the possibility that regulators may balk at the merger plan and demand more store divestitures.

Before the deal with C&S closes, “Kroger may, in connection with securing FTC and other governmental clearance, require C&S to purchase up to an additional 237 stores in certain geographies,” the companies said in the news release.

The Anchorage Daily News contributed.