Albertsons said Wednesday that it has terminated a $25 billion merger agreement with Kroger and will sue the grocery giant, alleging the company didn’t do enough to get the deal done.
Judges in Washington and Oregon on Tuesday blocked the deal, delivering a win to federal regulators and consumer advocates who argued the merger could harm competition, consumers and workers and push prices up.
“Rather than fulfill its contractual obligations to ensure that the merger succeeded, Kroger acted in its own financial self-interest, repeatedly providing insufficient divestiture proposals that ignored regulators’ concerns. Kroger’s self-serving conduct, taken at the expense of Albertsons and the agreed transaction, has harmed Albertsons’ shareholders, associates and consumers,” said Tom Moriarty, Albertsons’ general counsel and chief policy officer.
Kroger called Albertsons’ claims “baseless and without merit.”
“Kroger refutes these allegations in the strongest possible terms, especially in light of Albertsons’ repeated intentional material breaches and interference throughout the merger process,” Kroger said in a statement.