The Sobeys grocery store chain reached an agreement to purchase 213 full-service Safeway stores in Western Canada for $5.8 billion, as announced by Sobeys’ parent company, Empire Company Limited, June 12.
The transaction will be paid for in cash and is expected to close in the fall of 2013. The boards of directors of both companies approved the deal.
In addition to the 213 grocery stores, the transaction also includes 199 in-store pharmacies, 62 co-located fuel stations, 10 liquor stores, four primary distribution centres and 12 manufacturing facilities.
“We are pleased to enter into this agreement with Sobeys in order to realize the higher multiples attributed to Canadian supermarket companies,” said Robert Edwards, president and CEO of Safeway Inc.
Owners/operators of the Cochrane Sobeys declined to comment when contacted by the Eagle, adding that more information will be divulged once the deal closes.
