Albertson's Kicks Off $100 Million IPO Process



Albertson's Kicks Off $100 Million IPO Process



BOISE, ID - Following earlier rumors last April, Albertsons Companies, Inc. is planning for an initial public offering of stock, according to a regulatory filing on Wednesday.

The filing indicates that the company expects to raise $100 million from the offering, though that figure may change as it is only an estimate used to calculate a filing fee.

The IPO is led by Goldman Sachs & Co., Merrill Lynch, Citigroup, Morgan Stanley & Co., and Lazard Frères & Co, according to the filing.

As of June 20, 2015, Albertsons Companies, Inc. operates 2,205 stores across 33 states under 18 banners, including Albertsons, Safeway, Vons, Jewel-Osco, Shaw’s, Acme, Tom Thumb, Randalls, United Supermarkets, Pavilions, Star Market, and Carrs. Out of those 2,205 stores, Albertsons operates 456 stores, while Safeway operates 1,247.

The company also operates 30 distribution centers and 21 manufacturing facilities.

The map below represents Albertsons Companies’ regional banners and combined store network, as of June 20, 2015.

Albertsons Companies Regional Banners (as of June 20, 2015)

Safeway and Albertsons completed their merger, worth approximately $9.2 billion, in January. The Federal Trade Commission granted approval to the merger on the condition that the retailers divest 168 stores.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Albertsons had sales of $27.2 billion in fiscal 2014. That figure is boosted to $57.5 billion in sales with the addition of Safeway’s financial performance. This makes Albertsons Companies the second-largest traditional supermarket chain in the U.S. behind Kroger Inc.

In the filing, the company states, “Our operating playbook has enabled us to accelerate identical store sales growth. The Legacy Albertsons Stores have delivered positive identical store sales growth in each of the past 16 fiscal quarters. In fiscal 2014, we delivered identical store sales growth of 8.2% across the SVU (Supervalu) Albertsons Stores, and 9.1% across the NAI (New Albertsons) Stores, compared with negative 4.8% for each of them in fiscal 2012 (prior to their acquisition). Our Safeway stores delivered identical store sales growth of 3.0% in fiscal 2014, compared to 1.4% in fiscal 2013, and we believe that implementation of our playbook will enable us to further accelerate our sales growth.”

Identical Store Sales

In our most recent edition of The Snack magazine, we examined how suppliers may be affected by Safeway-Albertsons decentralized model. For more on that story, click here.

Stay tuned to AndNowUKnow as we continue to follow Albertsons’ initial public offering.

Albertsons Safeway