Albertsons to Buy Back 33 Stores It Sold as Part of Merger With Safeway

WSJ ^ | Brent Kendall and Peg Brickley

[BenLurkin]

Grocery store chain Albertsons Cos. is buying back 33 stores the government required it to sell when it acquired rival Safeway Inc. earlier this year, a highly unusual development approved by a judge on Tuesday that highlights a misfire by U.S. antitrust enforcers.

Little has gone according to plan since the Federal Trade Commission allowed the Albertsons-Safeway tie-up in January on the condition that the companies sell 168 stores to preserve competition in several Western states. Without the divestitures, Albertsons would be too dominant in 130 local markets, the FTC said when it agreed to a settlement with the merging companies.

Most of those divested stores went to a small Pacific Northwest chain, Haggen Holdings LLC, which planned a major expansion with the new assets. The FTC believed Haggen would serve as competitive check against Albertsons, preventing the postmerger entity from raising prices.

Instead, Haggen, which became roughly nine times larger almost overnight, struggled to make the new stores work. It filed for bankruptcy within months and slated more than 100 of the newly purchased stores for closure, threatening jobs and leaving shoppers and suppliers with fewer outlets.

[Tupelo]

Will someone please tell me once again, what the federal government does well other than steal our money in order to screw up every thing American. Hell they cannot even wage war anymore.

[OwenKellogg]

Will someone please tell me once again, what the federal government does well other than steal our money in order to screw up every thing American.

---

They can community organize an invasion of millions who don’t like the American way.

[o_1_2_3__]

Guess the Fed’s will have to re-calibrate their 5-Year Plan.

[Bernard]

Haggen, which became roughly nine times larger almost overnight

Only a wacky government lawyer with no experience in the real world could not have seen this coming. Thinking that a small chain can suddenly become a big chain overnight is just, .... I'd say stupid but more likely naive.

[Mr. Jeeves]

If the Federal Government did its real job and created a fair, low-regulation business environment, these types of mergers would never happen - because "big" would no longer be able to game the system and would be highly vulnerable to smaller, nimbler predators.

[jmaroneps37]

We were sorry to see Albertson’s go in South Florida but the unions killed it. Maybe they have learned their lesson.

[pluvmantelo]

Aid and abet our enemies?

[djf]

I shop at Haggen all the time. It’s actually a pretty nice store, not too expensive, and doesn’t have all the bells and whistles you see at Albertsons or Safeway.

I hope they keep it that way.

[minnesota_bound]

highlights a misfire by U.S. antitrust enforcers

Anytime gov’t gets involved in private enterprise it is generally a misfire. The only people affected were several thousands employees and their families who lost their income and possibly their homes and cars etc. so no big deal to those in the government who were there to help.......