European retailer in the frame to buy Albertsons
Albertson’s has hired two Wall Street firms to conduct an auction of the $9.2 billion company. Four bidding groups have already surfaced, including private-equity real estate partnerships and a European retailer.
Speculation is growing that Albertson’s, with its 2,500 stores nationwide, will be bought by a private equity team and broken into pieces or even sold to a European retailer looking to enter the U.S. market. So far, the groups reportedly interested in a purchase include Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., Apollo Management LP and Texas Pacific Group; Yucaipa Cos., Cerberus Group and Kimco Realty Corp.; Thomas H. Lee Partners, Bain Capital and Warburg Pincus; and Dutch retailer Royal Ahold NV.
According to published reports, the auctioneers, Goldman Sachs and Blackstone Group, want a bidding war to drive the price of the company significantly above its $9.2 billion market capitalization. One report suggested a price as high as $16 billion.
