Report: Albertsons no longer weighing $1B buy of chain in Northeast

Albertsons is no longer in talks to buy the Price Chopper grocery chain, according to a report from industry publication Supermarket News.

Reuters reported Nov. 29 that the Boise-based grocery chain was mulling a $1 billion purchase of New York-based Price Chopper, which has about 100 stores in the Northeast. The article cited anonymous sources who “cautioned that it is still possible for the deal negotiations to fall through.”

A spokesperson for Albertsons told the Statesman after the Reuters report that the company does not comment on rumors or speculation.

Albertsons has grown in the past four years into the nation’s second-largest traditional grocer, mainly through mergers and acquisitions. An executive told the Statesman last fall that Albertsons is on the lookout for more acquisitions and plans to build new stores.

Albertsons is owned by an investor consortium led by New York private-equity firm Cerberus Capital Management. It planned an initial public stock offering in 2015 but has delayed going public.

This story was originally published January 25, 2017 at 3:11 PM with the headline "Report: Albertsons no longer weighing $1B buy of chain in Northeast."