C&S Wholesale Grocers, which attempted to play a major role in the failed merger between Albertsons and Kroger, announced the purchase of 170 Southeastern Grocers’ Winn-Dixie and Harveys Supermarket stores from Aldi U.S.
The purchase by the private consortium includes grocery stores in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana and Mississippi, along with Winn-Dixie’s liquor store business, assuming day-to-day operations immediately.
The purchase price was not released.
Aldi bought Southeastern Grocers’ approximately 400 Winn-Dixie and Harveys grocery stores and 170 Winn-Dixie liquor stores in August 2023, completing the deal last March. It plans to convert the remaining 220 Winn-Dixie and Harveys locations to the Aldi format, a process that is expected to extend through 2027. About 100 of the stores are expected to reopen this year.
“Our unrelenting focus on long-term growth continues,” C&S CEO Eric Winn said in a press release.
Southeastern CEO Anthony Hucker will serve as chairman, CEO and president of the consortium, which is based in Jacksonville, Florida, Supermarket News reported, adding that Aldi had been working for weeks with investment bankers to offload the two chains despite plans to open 800 new U.S. locations in the next five years.
C&S has been Southeastern’s supplier for two decades.
C&S attempted to play a major role in the failed $24.6 billion Albertsons-Kroger merger, which was blocked by a federal judge at the behest of the Federal Trade Commission.
C&S wanted to buy some of the 579 stores to be divested as part of the deal, but the FTC argued C&S was unfit to participate. Albertsons and Kroger had argued they needed to merge to compete with the likes of Costco and Walmart. The FTC argued the merger would reduce competition and lead to higher prices.
The Aldi deal gives C&S control of nearly a third of the number of stores involved in the Albertsons-Kroger deal.
Winn-Dixie was founded in 1925. C&S was founded in 1918 and currently operates two dozen Grand Union and Piggly Wiggly stores, along with its wholesale distribution business.
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