Popular Idaho Grocery Chain Calls Off Merger, Will Sue ‘Selfish’ Ohio Company

Last summer, Albertsons revealed a list of 10 Idaho locations they hoped to sell off if their merger with Ohio-based Kroger was approved. Those stores may have just received a second chance. 

On Tuesday, a federal judge in Portland ruled in favor of the Federal Trade Commission which was seeking a preliminary injunction that would delay the merger of Boise-based Albertsons with Fred Meyer’s parent company, Kroger. Shortly after, a judge in Washington State ruled that the merger would violate their state’s consumer-protection laws and would damage competition. At the time, both companies said they were “disappointed” and were “reviewing their options.”

READ MORE: Popular Idaho Grocery Store Admits to Price Gouging

It didn’t take long for Albertsons to choose their course of action. On Wednesday, December 11, the grocer published a release revealing that they’re suing Kroger for breaching the merger agreement that the companies have been working on since 2022. Alleging that Kroger only acted selfishly, the release reads:

Kroger willfully breached the Merger Agreement in several key ways, including by repeatedly refusing to divest assets necessary for antitrust approval, ignoring regulators’ feedback, rejecting stronger divestiture buyers and failing to cooperate with Albertsons.

Albertsons says they’re officially terminating the merger agreement and will seek billions of dollars in damages plus a $600 million termination fee. The original merger plan was valued at $24.6 billion. 

So it looks like if your neighborhood Albertsons store was one of the stores set to be sold to C&S Wholesale Grocers as part of the merger, it will be sticking around for now. With the termination of the merger, Albertsons can now explore other opportunities to keep their stores moving in the right direction. They plan to give an update on the future of the company during their next earnings call. 

Originally, Albertson's CEO testified that the company may have to close stores and layoff employees if the merger didn't go through so we'll have to wait and see if they decide to hang on to the stores they originally planned to sell as part of the deal. The 10 Idaho stores that would've been spun off are listed below.