8/11/2023 0 Comments Safeway monopolyAlbertsons bought back dozens of the same stores it sold. Less than a year later, Haggen filed for bankruptcy. But the transition was bumpy, prompting Haggen to sue alleging that Albertsons misled the company with muddled inventory data and price information. Regional chain Haggen bought 146 of them to expand its footprint along the West Coast. The Albertson-Safeway merger in 2015 required the companies to divest some stores. “It’s clearly the case what happened with the Safeway-Albertsons merger is going to haunt this merger,” Ross said. Ross says the FTC will examine two things to make that determination -whether the companies are divesting enough stores in the right markets, and whether they’re divesting in a way that will produce robust competition and succeed. "The Federal Trade Commission’s job is to decide whether or not those divestitures are likely to succeed,” said Douglas Ross, who teaches antitrust law at the University of Washington. The companies are aware regulators, in this case the Federal Trade Commission, will closely scrutinize the proposed divestiture. Company leaders told a Senate subcommittee they plan to create a third party tentatively called SpinCo for those stores. It’s not clear how many stores, or which locations will be divested. They say they’re cooperating with regulators to address their concerns and expect the merger to be completed by 2024. Company officials say the merger is necessary for their long-term survival. Albertsons and Kroger have a significant presence in Washington state, with more than 330 stores combined.
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