Ahold and Delhaize to sell 61 Food Lion stores as part of their merger
Ahold and Delhaize have agreed to sell 61 Food Lion stores as part of their upcoming merger. None of them are in North Carolina.
The two companies said in a statement late Wednesday they are selling a total of 86 of their U.S. grocery stores, representing 4.1 percent of their combined U.S. stores and 3.2 percent of their total net sales in 2015.
All stores are being sold to “well-established supermarket retailers,” according to Delhaize, the parent company of Salisbury-based Food Lion, Charlotte’s second-biggest grocery chain by market share.
Earlier this week, the two companies said that they expect the merger to close by the end of July. Ahold, a Dutch retailer, announced last June it was buying Brussels-based Delhaize for $10.4 billion.
“Selling stores is a difficult part of any merger process, given the impact on our associates, customers and communities in which we operate,” said Frans Muller, Delhaize president and CEO.
The divested stores are expected to be re-bannered by their buyers and re-opened as supermarkets after any necessary remodeling, Delhaize said. Here are the details of the stores being sold:
▪ Saubel’s Markets (based in Pennsylvania) will buy one Food Lion store in York, Pa.
▪ Supervalu (based in Minnesota) will buy 22 Food Lion stores in Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia
▪ Weis Markets (based in Pennsylvania) will buy 38 Food Lion stores in Delaware, Maryland and Virginia
▪ New Albertson’s, Inc. (part of Albertsons Companies based in Idaho) will buy one Giant Food store in Salisbury, MD.
▪ Big Y (based in Massachusetts) will buy eight Hannaford stores in eastern Massachusetts
▪ Publix (based in Florida) will buy 10 Martin’s stores in Richmond, Va.
▪ Tops Markets (based in New York) will buy one Stop & Shop store in Massachusetts as well as three Stop & Shop stores and two Hannaford stores in New York
This story was originally published July 14, 2016 at 7:20 AM with the headline "Ahold and Delhaize to sell 61 Food Lion stores as part of their merger."