United Natural Foods Inc (UNFI) and Supervalu Inc have entered into a definitive agreement under which UNFI will acquire Supervalu for $32.50 per share in cash, or approximately $2.9 billion, including assumption of outstanding debt and liabilities.
“This transaction accelerates UNFI’s ‘Build out the Store’ growth strategy by immediately enhancing our product range, equipping us to bring an attractive, comprehensive product portfolio to an expanded universe of customers,” said Steve Spinner, UNFI’s chief executive officer and chairman. “Combining our leading position in natural and organic foods with Supervalu’s presence in fast-turning products makes us the partner of choice for a broader range of customers.”
“The combination of UNFI and Supervalu provides a substantial premium and delivers certainty of value to our stockholders, meaningful benefits to our customers, expanded opportunities for our employees, and the ability for us and our vendors to efficiently serve a varied customer base,” said Mark Gross, Supervalu CEO.
Spinner will lead the combined entity. Sean Griffin, UNFI chief operating officer, will lead the Supervalu integration efforts post close and lead an integration committee comprised of executives from both companies to drive implementation of best practices from each company, delivery of synergies and a smooth integration.
UNFI expects to finance the transaction substantially with debt, and Goldman Sachs provided committed financing in the transaction.
The transaction has been approved by the boards of directors of both companies and is subject to antitrust approvals, Supervalu shareholder approval and other customary closing conditions. The deal is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2018.
UNFI distributes more than 110,000 products to more than 43,000 customer locations including natural product superstores, independent retailers, conventional supermarket chains, ecommerce retailers, and foodservice customers. To learn more, visit www.unfi.com.
One of the largest grocery wholesalers and retailers in the United States, Supervalu had fiscal 2018 annual sales of approximately $14 billion. It has a network of 3,437 stores composed of 3,323 wholesale primary stores operated by customers serviced by Supervalu’s food distribution business and 114 traditional retail grocery stores in continuing operations operated under three retail banners in three geographic regions. Headquartered in Minnesota, Supervalu has about 23,000 employees (in continuing operations). For more information, go to www.supervalu.com.