Spartan Stores to Acquire VG’s

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Spartan Stores here said yesterday it has agreed to acquire VG’s Food Center and VG’s Pharmacy, a 17-store operator based in Fenton, Mich., that is Spartan’s largest distribution customer. Terms were not disclosed. Spartan said the purchase, scheduled to close near the end of the company’s current fiscal quarter, would boost its annual retail division sales by $310 million, and boost overall consolidated sales by $160 million. The company expects the acquisition to have a neutral effect on earning per share in the current year, and to become accretive to earnings next year. The Food Partners advised Spartan on the deal. Spartan currently operates 84 supermarkets under the D&W Fresh Market, Family Fare, Glen’s Market and Felpausch Food Center banners. “We are very enthused to bring VG’s, a premier Michigan grocery operator, further into the Spartan Stores family,” said Craig Sturken, chairman of Spartan, in a prepared statement. A Spartan spokeswoman told SN yesterday that the company would preserve the VG's Food and Pharmacy banner and would set up a regional headquarters in VG's current Fenton offices. "This was family decision that they made [to sell the chain] and it worked out that we were available," she said.

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