Albertsons looking at acquiring Whole Foods
Posted: April 24th, 2017, 2:08 pm
Crazy about retail.
https://www.retailwatchers.com/
Most of the stores where Whole Foods operates (in the big cities) are where either Albertsons operates stores or are in far-flung locations, making distribution difficult. The only way that it would work is if Albertsons Cos. teamed up with activist investors to buy Whole Foods Market Inc., taking its place in the stock market. Albertsons would then spin off the majority of the company to said activist investors as Whole Foods Market LLC, containing the majority of the company (including all trademarks and most stores). Albertsons then takes control of the "loser stores" as well as a few choice operations that would benefit them without causing FTC strife, licensing the Whole Foods format back from WFM LLC as it fully divests its operations in WFM. That way, Albertsons can get a number of good locations (especially ones that used to be theirs), helps Whole Foods stay alive without some sort of major catastrophe, and they get their IPO.wnetmacman wrote:I can't imagine, with all the problems with Haggen, that the FTC will even begin to entertain this. Yes, they operate two different types of stores. Yes, they attract a different crowd. But I can see so many issues and overlaps that it would never, ever work.
If Albertsons were to purchase Whole Foods, it would have to be to keep the chain intact, but separate from their current operations. Purchasing to sell off wouldn't be allowed, because it would be pointless. Albertsons is building bigger stores than WFM. Most of their store stable is 30k or less; Albertsons starts at 50k. Also, there are a good number of WFM and Albertsons stores close enough to each other to create antitrust issues.pseudo3d wrote:Most of the stores where Whole Foods operates (in the big cities) are where either Albertsons operates stores or are in far-flung locations, making distribution difficult. The only way that it would work is if Albertsons Cos. teamed up with activist investors to buy Whole Foods Market Inc., taking its place in the stock market. Albertsons would then spin off the majority of the company to said activist investors as Whole Foods Market LLC, containing the majority of the company (including all trademarks and most stores). Albertsons then takes control of the "loser stores" as well as a few choice operations that would benefit them without causing FTC strife, licensing the Whole Foods format back from WFM LLC as it fully divests its operations in WFM. That way, Albertsons can get a number of good locations (especially ones that used to be theirs), helps Whole Foods stay alive without some sort of major catastrophe, and they get their IPO.wnetmacman wrote:I can't imagine, with all the problems with Haggen, that the FTC will even begin to entertain this. Yes, they operate two different types of stores. Yes, they attract a different crowd. But I can see so many issues and overlaps that it would never, ever work.