Food Emporium Nears Sale

This sounds more like it. The folks at AG have never paid market value for any of their acquisitions. Only buying 11 (& I assume leaving the poorest performing 5 for A&P to deal with) in a smart move for Kings (but not very smart of A&P).

And the fact that will immediately divest themselves of 6 of the 11 and only operate the remaining 5 says a lot. The first question is will the union allow it. Probably not. They'll fight it to the end. The stores which Kings will sell will not be food stores after their real estate partner gets done with them. They'll be non union drug stores, banks, boutiques, restaurants and coffee shops.

The second question is, what are Angelo, Gordons motives. Let's face it. AG is a private equity group that's doing this to make big money quickly. That ship has come & salied. AG has owned Kings for almost 7 years; well beyond the typical 3 to 5 year investment horizon. If AG was really interested in growing the Kings food business, they would buy all 16 Food Emporium to have really market share in Manhattan. The fact that they are only buying 11 with plans to divest 6 is very telling.

It looks to me like they are buying revenue and a tiny 5 store presence in Manhattan as part of a bigger plan to exit this investment completely. They're beefing up the store count, sales and profit and creating a presence in NYC because they believe it make the business more marketable. This looks like an attempt to try to get their investment back and sell the whole thing.

What is the union doing about this? This deal doesn't sound good for it's members. If Kings is only buying 11 stores, what will A&P do with the others? Close them if they're not profitable? Sell them for the real estate value?

How about Kings? If they are buying 11, but will only operate 5, what will their real estate investment partner do with the other 6? These stores certainly will no longer employ our local's members.

Anyone understand what's going on here...?

This is not a deal to screw the union, it's a deal to salvage
some cash and invest in what is smart. Obviously there is a huge problem with the downsizing of the traditional supermarket industry, as we have seen from A&P filing for bankruptcy & closing over 75 stores,SuperValu selling off 5 well known retail supermarkets, Safeway selling off Genuardi's & closing 5 stores. The industry is in contraction mode and companies, large or small, corporate or independent are fighting for survival because there are too many shopping options now... club stores, pet stores, gourmet stores, dollar stores, drug stores, etc., etc., etc... so jobs are leaving this industry as supermarkets draw less consumers and technoloy changes things.
This deal in comparison to the others mentioned above should not be getting any negative PR or scrutiny by anyone including the union... a failing company is looking for cash and an investment company is trying to responsibly invest in a risky high rent NYC market infested with rats! Anything more than that is just your imagination!