Market News

A&P U.S. Sells Its Metro Inc. Shares

The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company has sold all of its 11,726,645 shares of Metro Inc. for approximately US$347 million. Some 1,500,000 of the shares were bought by Metro. The sale will help A&P finance its purchase of Pathmark Stores in the United States. Montvale, N.J.-based A&P expects that it would complete its US$1.3 billion acquisition in early December. The A&P/Pathmark transaction was delayed by anti-trust investigation by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). A&P has now agreed to sell an unspecified number of stores at the behest of the FTC. A&P operates 337 supermarkets and Pathmark has 140 in New Jersey, New York and Philadelphia. Source: Canadian Grocer E-Newsletter, Nov. 30, 2007