Albertsons, the parent company for supermarket banners like Acme, Safeway, Jewel-Osco, Shaw’s and several others, announced last week that it plans to sell a 17.5% stake in the company to private equity firm Apollo Global Management. The transaction is expected to close by mid-June.
Albertsons is owned by an investment group that includes Kimco and Lubert Adler, and is led by Cerberus Capital Management. Apollo’s grocery investments include The Fresh Market, which it acquired in 2016, and Smart & Final, which it bought last year. The company once held a controlling interest in Sprouts Farmers Market but sold its shares in 2015, two years after Sprouts went public.
Earlier this year Albertsons filed a registration statement for an IPO, which represented the company’s third attempt to go public. In 2015 it attempted to become public following its merger with Safeway, and in 2018 it tried again via a failed merger with Rite Aid.