Posted on 11/02/2022 4:10:24 PM PDT by Twotone
WASHINGTON — The attorneys general of California, Illinois and the District of Columbia are suing Albertsons in an effort to stop the grocery chain from paying a nearly $4 billion dividend to its shareholders.
The lawsuit, filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., asks the court to block the payment until the attorneys general have reviewed Albertsons’ proposed merger with Kroger Co.
The lawsuit is the second this week seeking to delay the dividend payment. The state of Washington's Attorney General Bob Ferguson filed a similar lawsuit in state court Tuesday.
Boise, Idaho-based Albertsons said Wednesday that both lawsuits are without merit.
Kroger announced its plan to buy Albertsons for $20 billion last month. The deal is expected to close in early 2024 if it’s approved by the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice and survives any court challenges.
The merger agreement included a special dividend of up to $4 billion -- or $6.85 per share -- that Albertsons is scheduled to pay its shareholders Monday.
The Democratic attorneys general of California, Washington, Illinois and the District of Columbia, as well as the Republican attorneys general of Arizona and Idaho, sent a letter to Albertsons last week asking the company to delay the payment.
The attorneys general say the dividend -- which equals nearly one-third of Albertsons’ $11 billion market value -- would deprive the company of cash it needs to operate while regulators review the merger.
“Albertsons’ rush to secure a record-setting payday for its investors threatens District residents’ jobs and access to affordable food and groceries in neighborhoods where no alternatives exist,” D.C. Attorney General Karl Racine said in a statement.
(Excerpt) Read more at ktvb.com ...
And, if Albertsons goes out of business while the AGs are reviewing the merger, then...
What?
-PJ
What they really want to do is give themselves more time to buy Albertsons shares.
These states are trying to get their lawsuits in before the merger completes.
Who's the fascist now? Who wants to control private-sector businesses?
-PJ
What?
Then Justice has been served!
Yeah, you get food deserts and the like, but that's not important...
The guberment always thinks they know how to run a business. They went broke running a whore house in Nevada though.
I actually feel sorry for anyone trying to run a legitimate above-the-board business in the United States right now. That goes for mom-and-pops to big corps.
The regulatory dain bramage appears incredibly ridiculous.
The attorneys general say the dividend -would deprive the company of cash it needs to operate.
So what?
I could see Kroger filing suit, but these AG’s are simply trying to score cheap political points.
Fairly shoddy reporting because they either have the money to pay the dividend or they have the ability to borrow to pay the dividend.
Albertson’s is a private equity entity so the owners want to get paid right away. It also lowers the price Kroger would be willing to pay for the entity.
I am totally against the Merger.
this merger should never have been considered (assuming anyone knows what a Monopoly is)
While I have noticed that albertsons has had supply issues of late, but in my area that would leave winco, walmart and costco as the only possible competitors.
but there are none of those within 20 miles.
Kroger has given me lots of crap about scanning my ID. I was forced to sue them so they don’t do that anymore, but they still give me crap and call me a troublemaker whenever I walk into my local stores.
If it is not a local store I get really annoyed at them and have had lots of bad experiences, at one I was lucky that the Dist Mgr was there, he also gave me a ration of crap and Threatened to call Corporate. I told him he better get on with it cause while I had all day he was about to get a civil rights lawsuit. 10 minutes later their attys told him to kiss my ass.
Kroger here in the midwest is unionized with high prices and surly employees. Easily avoided.
>>I could see Kroger filing suit, but these AG’s are simply trying to score cheap political points.
On what grounds would Kroger do so? The special dividend was part of the merger agreement.
Correct-—
They seized The Mustang Ranch Whorehouse and tried to run it—————
To show everyone how stupid the Feds are-—
They couldn’t run a place that sold sex, cigarettes, and liquor at a profit——
IN a Nevada County that allows Bordellos.....
RIGHT ON I-80.
This merger affects our small town. We have two grocery stores, one Kroger-owned and the other Albertson-owned. No one knows for sure what we’ll end up with. Any merger lawyers out there?
someone pm me and asked what I meant:
if you try to buy beer, wine, spirits, nicotine in any form or cold meds from Kroger they will ask to see your id, then they will grab it and scan it with their grocery scanner without your permission.
in most states that will allow them to capture more than enough info to steal your identity.
they claim that it does not, but they lie. (otherwise why would they get so butthurt if you refuse.)
Also they have no real data security.
They claim there was a memo, and then make up stuff about what it said. I read it, and the stuff they make up about what they think it said is so laughable.
kinda like “Totally Safe and Effective”
I had to sue RiteAid also, that was much easier cause they are under a current consent decree for failing to have data security.
Thanks, I am also against the merger. Under Kroger our Fred Meyer stores have become a little bit too controlling. I have started shopping smaller more local stores even if less convenient.
Since when do the states Attorney Generals have STANDING if no crime has been committed.
Isn’t “STANDING” the all important criteria for PERVERTED CLINTON/OBASTARD JUDGES?
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