Haggen has agreed to acquire 146 Safeway and Albertsons stores as part of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) required divestment after the announcement of the merger of Safeway and Albertsons in March.
Haggen is buying buying 146 Albertsons and Safeway stores across California, Washington, Oregon, Arizona, and Nevada.
Once approved by the FTC the acquisition will expand Haggen from operating just 18 stores in the Pacific Northwest to more than 164.
In 2011 a private investment firm in Florida, Comyest Partners, become the majority owner of Haggen and it struggled for a while, eventually closing 12 stores.
However, the company has bounced back and the CEO of Haggen, John Clougher, said The Comvest Group is ready to grow again.
“Our Pacific Northwest grocery-store chain has been committed to local sourcing, investing in the communities we serve, and providing genuine service and homemade quality since it was founded in 1933,” John Caple, chairman of the Haggen board and partner at Comvest, said in a statement. “We will continue our focus on sourcing and investing locally even with this exciting expansion.”
This is one of the largest of many sales related to the $7.6 billion sale of Safeway to investors led by Cerberus Capital Management.
Haggen plans on keeping its current store-management teams, but will be splitting the CEO duties.
Clougher will be in charge of the Northwest division of Washington and Oregon under the title CEO, Pacific Northwest. While Bill Shaner will be the newly appointed CEO of Pacific Southwest operations, managing California, Nevada and Arizona.
