The proposed merger has been a magnet for attention in an era when food costs have risen nearly 25% since March 2020.
Kroger has spent $535 million on merger-related fees since targeting Albertsons for acquisition in late 2022, according to filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Albertsons, for its part, has spent $329 million, bringing the companies’ total spending to about $864 million.
The Federal Trade Commission in February sued to block Kroger’s $25 billion overture for Albertson’s, slowing down what could be the largest supermarket deal in business history.
In an amicus brief filed Wednesday with a U.S. District Court in Oregon, Yost and three other state attorneys general asked the court to let Kroger’s acquisition of Albertsons proceed, Yost said in a statement.
Those objecting argue that the merger would stifle competition and lead to further price increases. Yost and his co-authors on the court brief dispute those claims.
The liberal-leaning Economic Policy Institute has also argued that the merger would reduce the number of outside employment options available to workers, lowering grocery store workers’ annual wages by a total of $334 million — about a $450 loss in annual wages per worker.
But according to the new amicus brief, the merger of Cincinnati-based Kroger, and Albertsons, headquartered in Boise, Idaho, would create “a stronger competitor in the retail grocery market,” Yost’s office said.
To preserve competition, Kroger would divest stores in areas where the chains currently have overlapping operations, Yost argued.
The retailers have more than 5,000 stores throughout the country, with about 500 of them overlapping, the brief says.
The attorneys general asked the court to deny the FTC’s motion for a preliminary injunction.
Joining Yost in the amicus brief were the AGs of Alabama, Georgia and Iowa.
The Dayton Daily News reached out to Kroger for a reaction to the brief.
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