SUPERMARKETS GENERAL HOLDINGS CORP., Carteret, N.J., parent company of Pathmark Stores, also of Carteret, said last week it has won court approval of a $10 million settlement, which was disclosed in May, that resolves a class-action lawsuit by preferred shareholders upset by the company's pending sale of Pathmark to Netherlands-based Ahold. Under terms of the settlement, preferred shareholders will get $40.25 per share -- $2 more than common shareholders will get -- less legal fees, which could amount to 40 cents per share.
g divested by Albertson's, Boise, Idaho.
RICHFOOD HOLDINGS, Richmond, Va., said it will hold a special meeting Aug. 31 to give shareholders an opportunity to vote on the acquisition of the food wholesaler and retailer by Supervalu, Minneapolis. Richfood also said the deal has received clearance from the Federal Trade Commission, the final federal regulatory hurdle the firm had to meet.
JITNEY-JUNGLE STORES OF AMERICA, Jackson, Miss., said last week it has closed on a $50 million credit facility -- an increase over the $37.7 million facility the company announced in late June. Jitney said the funds will be used for the acquisition of tangible assets, including inventory. The money is being provided by Angelo, Gordon & Co., New York, and accounts managed by the investment company in the form of a five-year term loan secured by a second lien on substantially all the chain's assets.
MEGAMARKETS, the price-driven superwarehouse format franchised by Fleming Cos., Oklahoma City, has opened its first store in Michigan. The 67,000-square-foot unit in the Detroit suburb of Southfield features white Doric columns and three large copper cupolas. "Megamarket, with its brick masonry and copper towers, is a beacon of permanence [that will] set the tone and build enthusiasm for development in the district," said Tom Tanghe, executive director of the Southfield Downtown Development Authority.
CERTIFIED GROCERS OF CALIFORNIA, Los Angeles, said last week it will operate one additional unit, for a total of six instead of five, of the 32 divested stores it acquired last month from Albertson's, Boise, Idaho. The distributor previously indicated it had found buyers for 27 of those units, but one buyer -- Goodwin's Markets, a two-store operator based in Crestline, Calif. -- did not acquire one of the stores as anticipated, Certified said.
PATHMARK STORES, Carteret, N.J., told SN last week it plans to appeal a decision by a federal court jury in Wilmington, Del., that awarded $1 million to a former Pathmark employee who claimed the company discriminated against him after he filed a workers' compensation claim following a 1993 back injury. The jury found that Pathmark violated the Americans With Disabilities Act and awarded the 57-year-old butcher $800,000 in lost wages and $3 million in punitive damages, although federal and state law caps total damages at $1 million.
STATER BROS. MARKETS, Colton, Calif., said it will sponsor an automotive street fair, the Route 66 Rendezvous, Sept. 16 to 19. As part of the 10-year-old event, 30 blocks of downtown San Bernardino will be closed to all traffic but classic American cars, hot rods, muscle cars and custom vehicles from before 1973, which will be allowed to cruise up and down the streets while vendors offer food and other merchandise on the sidewalks. A Stater spokeswoman said last year's event attracted 400,000 people and 2,400 cars.
THE PANTRY, SANFORD, N.C., a leading operator of convenience stores in the Southeast, said last week it has completed two major acquisitions. From R&H Maxxon, it acquired 53 stores operating under the Depot Food Stores banner, and, from Dilmar Oil Co., it acquired 28 stores operating under the Food Chief Banner. The acquired stores are in South Carolina and northern Georgia.
H.E. BUTT Grocery Co., San Antonio, said it has opened a supermarket on an environmentally sensitive site in Austin, Texas, that will serve as a "green model building to the U.S. grocery industry." The chain voluntarily surpassed state guidelines by building on only 9 acres of a 60-acre site, preserving nearly 2,700 trees. H-E-B said its Brodie Lane store also features a roof rainwater-collection system and a re-irrigation pond that filters parking lot runoff and pumps it into the landscape irrigation system. In addition, many green building methods implemented at this site have been incorporated into company building standards.
