Giant Food’s parent company, Ahold Delhaize, and private equity firm Centerbridge Partners announced yesterday that they plan to acquire online grocer FreshDirect. Netherlands-based Ahold Delhaize would be FreshDirect’s majority owner.
FreshDirect operates out of a 400,000 square foot fulfillment center and campus that it opened in the Bronx, NY in 2018, and the company will remain there, operating independently and under its own name. The fulfillment center has robotic pick towers, smart routing, nine miles of conveyer belts, and is temperature-controlled for categories like meat, deli, bakery and ice cream. Company founders Joe Fedele and Jason Ackerman, as well as CEO David McInerney, will continue to run the company.
The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2021.
Ahold Delhaize is one of the world’s largest food retailers, serving more than 54 million customers each week in the United States, Europe and Indonesia. In addition to Giant, U.S. brands include Food Lion, Hannaford and Stop & Shop.