No Fred Meyer stores to be sold in Kroger-Albertsons divestiture deal, report says

No Fred Meyer stores are to be sold in a divestiture agreement announced last week by merging supermarket chains Kroger and Albertsons, a company spokesperson told the Oregonian this week.

Kroger (NYSE: KR) and Albertsons (NYSE: ACI), the country's largest operators of traditional grocery stores, are in the middle of a $24.6 billion merger and agreed to sell more than 400 stores, including 104 in Washington, to satisfy antitrust concerns.

In Washington, Kroger operates the Fred Meyer and QFC chains and Albertsons owns stores under the Safeway, Albertsons and Haggen brands. The Oregonian reported Tuesday that Kroger does not plan to sell any Fred Meyer locations to C&S Wholesale Grocers, the third party in the companies' divestiture plan. The deal is valued at $1.9 billion.

Fred Meyer spokesperson Tiffany Sanders told the Oregonian that the agreement “includes the sale of the QFC banner name and some QFC stores but does not include the sale of any Fred Meyer stores at this time.”

https://www.bizjournals.com/seattle/news/2023/09/14/fred-meyer-kroger-albertsons.html

It still would mean three of the five grocery stores in my neighborhood would be run by the same outfit.