Albertsons hopes to raise $1.84 billion with IPO

Albertsons, the Idaho-based supermarket chain that acquired Tom Thumb in North Texas, filed an updated prospectus for its initial public offering with a placeholder of $1.84 billion, an amount that may change.

The company, backed by Cerberus Capital Management, didn’t indicate the number of shares it plans to sell or a price range. Proceeds would go toward paying down debt, according to an updated prospectus filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday. The company will trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol ABS.

Albertsons first filed documents for a public offering in July.

Last year, Cerberus acquired Safeway, the owner of Tom Thumb Inc., and merged it with Albertsons. That created the second-biggest supermarket chain in America behind Kroger Co., according to PrivCo. Besides the Albertsons and Safeway brands, the Boise, Idaho, company operates Vons, Jewel-Osco, United Supermarkets and Pavilions.

Albertsons posted a net loss of $385 million, including the Safeway acquisition, on $57.5 billion in sales in the 53 weeks that ended Feb. 28.

A group of investors led by Cerberus bought Albertsons in 2006, followed by the acquisitions of NAI from SuperValu Inc., United Supermarkets (owner of Market Street) 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.

This report includes material from the Star-Telegram archives.

This story was originally published September 25, 2015 at 1:27 PM with the headline "Albertsons hopes to raise $1.84 billion with IPO."