$25B Kroger-Albertsons Merger On Hold After Injunction In Colorado Court

The planned $25B merger between grocery giants Kroger and Albertsons was put on pause Thursday after a judge granted a preliminary injunction in a Colorado lawsuit.

Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser filed the injunction as part of a lawsuit filed in February, arguing that the merger would be detrimental to competition and harmful to consumers and workers.

In a statement issued after the ruling, Weiser said he was pleased that Kroger and Albertsons would halt the merger until the court rules on the state’s lawsuit.

“This is great news for shoppers, workers, farmers, and other suppliers who can rest assured that this megamerger will not go into effect during harvest season and while kids are headed back to school," Weiser said in his statement.

The trial is expected to begin Sept. 30.

As The Wall Street Journal reported, the Federal Trade Commission filed its own lawsuit in a federal court in Oregon opposing the proposed deal. That court is expected to hear the FTC’s injunction request on Friday.

That federal ruling, the WSJ noted, could come before the end of the state trial in Colorado and could further impact the planned merger.

If successful, the merger would create the largest grocery operation by store count in the United States, the WSJ reported. The companies have said the pairing would help them compete against retail giants Amazon and Walmart.

In April, Kroger and Albertson said they would sell more than 160 stores to quell regulatory concerns about anticompetitiveness. After those sales, the companies would have about 5,000 locations in the U.S., according to the WSJ.

Kroger, in a statement quoted by the Denver Business Journal, said it looked forward to defending in court “how the combination of Kroger and Albertsons will provide meaningful, measurable benefits, including lower prices and more choice for families across the country and more opportunities for stable, well-paying union jobs.”