reelryobixenos3| Kroger and Albertson plan to sell an additional 166 stores to promote a $25 billion merger

KRReelryobixenos3Us) and ACI.US said on Monday that they were expanding the size of their grocery stores to sell 166 more stores to Clover S Wholesale Grocers than previously agreed, in order to obtain regulatory approval for their proposed $25 billion merger.

The two companies have been seeking to sell stores to address growing concerns among regulators that the merger will lead to higher prices, store closures and job losses.

Under the new agreement, Clover will pay Kroger about $2.9 billion in cash, up from $1.9 billion before.

Together with the addition of 166 new stores, the two companies now sell 579 stores to Cruise and allow them to use their own Albertsons Signature and O Organics brands.

Kroger announced the acquisition of Albertson in October 2022. In February, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and eight states sued to block the deal, saying it would raise food prices for millions of Americans.

Maureen Ohlhausen, former chairman of FTC, said last week that FTC was generally reluctant to accept divestitures as a solution.

An Oregon district court has scheduled a hearing for August to hear a preliminary injunction proposed by FTC to block the deal. The merger will consolidate Kroger's position as the second-largest company in the US grocery market after WMT.US.

Steven Shemesh, an analyst at Royal Bank of Canada Capital Markets, said one of the main reasons for opposing the initial sale was that Ctiles had no meaningful operational experience and that they had a history of selling retail assets.

He said: "inReelryobixenos3In our opinion, selling more stores will not change this view. "

However, legal advisers familiar with the deal and the spin-off said Mr Kroger and Mr Eberson were trying to provide Clover S with an operational business to support its business by increasing distribution capacity and creating a dense network of local stores.