Albertsons Seeks Over $8 Billion From Kroger in Delaware Suit Over Collapsed $24.6B Merger

Albertsons is seeking more than $8 billion in damages from Kroger after their $24.6 billion merger collapsed, according to court filings unsealed in Delaware Chancery Court. Albertsons argues that Kroger did not make its "best efforts" to win regulatory approval and "willfully" let the deal fail. The claim includes lost merger premiums, a $600 million termination fee that Kroger never paid, and roughly $75 million in interest and related expenses. A Quartz account of Bloomberg's reporting puts the total higher, citing the additional value Albertsons shareholders would have received had the deal closed. The deal was blocked after the FTC and eight states plus Washington, D.C., sued to stop it. Albertsons terminated the merger right after the courts blocked it and then sued Kroger for breach of contract. Regulators argued that the planned sale of hundreds of stores to C&S Wholesale Grocers did not fix the competition problems. Albertsons now says Kroger refused to sell more profitable stores and that a contract provision capped divestitures at 650 stores. Kroger has called the claims baseless and has countersued, alleging Albertsons misconduct that surfaced during the antitrust trial and seeking to recover the investment it made to win regulatory approval.