BOISE, ID - Samuel Zell, the billionaire investor and Founder and Chairman of Equity Group Investments, has publically confirmed his interest in the over 100 soon-to-be divested Albertsons locations. 

“Obviously, like every deal it starts with price,” Zell explained during an interview with Fox News' Maria Bartiromo. “In this particular case, this is a $9 billion or $10 billion merger of Safeway and Albertsons with about 140 stores that they were forced to divest. Their focus is on getting the big deal done which creates a more opportunistic environment for taking care of the remnants.”

“We have a lot of confidence in the supermarket business,” he continued. “We've been in it before very successfully and we think this is an interesting opportunity and a good deployment of capital.”

Zell and his partner, Stuart Sloan, the former Chairman of Quality Food Centers, will be pitting themselves against Capital Management and Comvest Partners in this bidding race. So far, no actual bid amounts have been disclosed to the public.

Could Zell be on his way to becoming a big time player in the North American retail game? For now, it sounds like his interest is largely limited to this particular transaction, according to Zell.

“It's a one-off situation like most everything else that we're currently doing,” he shared.

It is nonethess interesting to see his focus honed in on our industry. It will be fascinating to see what role he could play going into the future.  

Stay tuned to AndNowUKnow for future updates on this bidding war as they develop. 

Albertsons