GIANT EAGLE WRAPS UP RISER BUYOUT

PITTSBURGH -- Giant Eagle here said last week it has completed its acquisition of Riser Foods, Bedford Heights, Ohio, creating a 91-store chain in Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia with sales of about $4 billion.

ing options.

The two chains will retain their existing banners, with 56 corporate Giant Eagle stores in Pennsylvania and West Virginia and 35 Rini-Rego Stop-n-Shop banner stores in Ohio.

Both companies also operate wholesale divisions, with Giant Eagle supplying 86 independently owned Giant Eagle stores in Pennsylvania and West Virginia and Riser servicing 500 customers in Ohio through its American Seaway Foods division.

The merger may make both companies stronger in the wholesaling business, one securities analyst told SN. "As a combined entity they should be able to buy better, and they can support larger retail customers who might operate in geographies that neither company could serve individually before the merger," Chuck Cerankosky, a Cleveland-based analyst with Tucker Anthony, Boston, told SN.

As previously reported, David S. Shapira, chairman and chief executive officer of Giant Eagle, and Raymond J. Burgo, president and chief operating officer, will retain those positions.

Anthony C. Rego, chairman and CEO of Riser, will remain Riser's CEO while adding the title vice chairman and becoming a director of Giant Eagle; and Charles A. Rini Sr., president and chief operating officer of Riser, will retain those titles, add the title of executive vice president of Giant Eagle and become a member of Giant Eagle's board.

The four executives -- Shapira, Rego, Burgo and Rini -- will make up a newly formed executive committee, with overall management responsibility for the combined companies. However, both Giant Eagle and Riser will operate autonomously.