NEW YORK -- Gristede's Foods here expects to be able to line up funding for a bond offering to acquire Kings Super Markets by early this week "or the deal is dead," John Catsimatidis, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Gristede's, told SN last week.
"We're very close -- there are just a few more things we're working on regarding terms with bondholders," he said.
"Either we'll do the deal in the next five or six days, or the deal is dead," he told SN last Thursday.
Gristede's is attempting to acquire Kings, based in Parsippany, N.J., from London-based Marks & Spencer for $120 million through a bond offering. The company had indicated earlier it hoped to do the offering last week.
"The bond market is very good right now," Catsimatidis told SN July 22, "but [investors] really hate the food industry."
Gristede's had attempted to raise money for the purchase early in 2002, at a time when the bond market was collapsing. When that attempt failed, Marks & Spencer sought to sell the stores to D'Agostino Supermarkets, Larchmont, N.Y., but that deal fell apart late last year when D'Agostino was unable to come up with financing.