Phoenix, AZ – Safeway Inc
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The offer price of $40 per share represents a premium of 1.3 percent to Safeway’s Thursday closing stock price of $39.47 on the New York Stock Exchange.
The deal combines Safeway with Cerberus’ Albertsons chain, creating a dominant grocery franchise on the West Coast. It also creates a grocery network of more than 2,400 stores and 250,000 employees.
No store closures are expected, according to the company.
Safeway shareholders will receive $32.50 per share in cash plus other distributions with a value of $3.65 per share.
Cerberus is a seasoned investor in the supermarket sector. Last March, a Cerberus-led investor group acquired a group of grocery chains from Supervalu Inc, including Albertsons and Jewel-Osco, for $3.3 billion.
Cerberus previously owned 650 Albertsons locations as a result of a 2006 deal under which the chain was acquired and its stores broken up between the private equity investor, Supervalu and CVS Caremark Corp.
Safeway has been in the hands of private equity before. KKR & Co LP
Safeway has been trying to streamline its business by selling off non-core units. Last year, it spun off its gift card provider, Blackhawk Network Holdings Inc
It also sold off its Canadian business to the operator of Canadian retailer Sobeys for $5.8 billion in cash.
More recently, Safeway has revealed plans to leave the Chicago market by early this year. That announcement came after activist investor Jana Partners pressured the company to review strategic alternatives, including exiting weak markets.
Reuters first reported that Cerberus was exploring a buyout of Safeway last October.
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