Supermarket owner Albertsons files for IPO

Albertsons, the grocery chain operator with more than 2,000 stores across the U.S., has filed for an initial public offering.

The planned IPO comes just six months after the company’s private-equity owner, Cerberus Capital Management, completed a $9 billion acquisition of Safeway, including the Tom Thumb chain in North Texas. The combination of Albertsons and Safeway created the second-largest grocery-store chain in the U.S. behind Kroger, according to PrivCo Media.

In addition to the Albertsons and Safeway brands, the Boise, Idaho-based company operates Vons, Jewel-Osco, Pavilions and United Supermarkets, owner of Market Street. Adjusting for the acquisition of Safeway, Albertsons posted sales of $57.5 billion last year, with net losses of $385 million, according to the filing.

Sales at Albertsons stores open at least a year increased by 7.2 percent last year, while Safeway’s rose 2.8 percent, the filing showed.

A group of investors led by Cerberus purchased Albertsons in 2006, followed by the acquisitions of NAI from SuperValu Inc., United in 2013, and then Safeway. Albertsons sold 168 stores as required by the Federal Trade Commission as part of the Safeway acquisition, including two Tom Thumb locations in Northeast Tarrant County.

According to Bloomberg data, the combined market share for Albertsons and Tom Thumb stores in North Texas declined to 13.6 percent last year from 19.2 percent in 2010. Wal-Mart Stores was the market leader with 28.4 percent.

Albertsons filed with a $100 million placeholder, a figure used to calculate fees that will change. Goldman Sachs Group, Bank of America, Citigroup and Morgan Stanley are managing the offering.

This story was originally published July 8, 2015 at 2:00 PM with the headline "Supermarket owner Albertsons files for IPO."