By Mary O’KEEFE

What was thought to be a done deal appears to actually be done – just not the deal anyone expected. 

On Tuesday, a federal judge temporarily blocked the acquisition of Albertsons by Kroger. This was projected as a $24.6 billion deal. The decision was handed down in an Oregon court that found in favor of the Federal Trade Commission whose representatives argued against the deal stating it would violate antitrust laws. In addition, on Tuesday a King County judge in the State of Washington ruled that the proposed “merger of grocery giants Kroger and Albertsons is unlawful and cannot go forward,” according to a statement from Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson. 

On Wednesday, Albertsons Companies, Inc. announced it had “exercised its right to terminate its merger agreement with Kroger.”

“Given the recent federal and state court decisions to block our proposed merger with Kroger, we have made the difficult decision to terminate the merger agreement. We are deeply disappointed in the courts’ decisions,” stated Vivek Sankaran, CEO of Albertsons Companies. 

The company, according to a released statement, is in a “strong financial condition” and stated it would continue with its plan of creating a “Customers for Life” strategy. The plans on how that will be done, as well as continuing to make money for its shareholders, will be released in January 2025.

Also on Wednesday, Albertsons Companies, Inc. filed a lawsuit against The Kroger Company claiming “breach of contract and breach of the covenant of good faith and fair dealing arising from Kroger’s failure to exercise ‘best efforts’” according to the lawsuit filed. 

“Kroger refutes these allegations in the strongest possible terms, especially in the light of Albertsons’ repeated intentional material breaches and interference through the merger process,” Kroger alleged in a statement on Wednesday.

The merger may be over but it does appear that the battle of the grocery chains has just begun.