Kroger, America’s second-biggest grocer, goes shopping
Its acquisition of Albertsons faces antitrust scrutiny
![A shopper loads items into a vehicle outside of a Kroger Co. supermarket in Sterling, Illinois, U.S., on Monday, Feb. 5, 2018. Kroger will sell its convenience-store business to EG Group for $2.15 billion, giving a British retailer an entry into the U.S. with stores such as Tom Thumb, Loaf 'N Jug and Kwik Shop. Photographer: Daniel Acker/Bloomberg via Getty Images](https://www.economist.com/cdn-cgi/image/width=1424,quality=80,format=auto/media-assets/image/20221022_WBP002.jpg)
Grocery is a boring business. Peddling bread-and-butter products (literally) at wafer-thin margins hardly sets pulses racing. Unless, that is, you are an American politician. On October 18th Amy Klobuchar and Mike Lee, two senators, called a hearing to discuss the proposed acquisition by Kroger, America’s second-biggest grocer by revenues, of Albertsons, the fourth-largest. The top Democrat and Republican, respectively, on the Senate antitrust subcommittee also sent a letter urging the Federal Trade Commission (ftc) to size up the $25bn deal, which they say “raises considerable antitrust concerns”.
This article appeared in the Business section of the print edition under the headline “Fodder for the FTC”
Business October 22nd 2022
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