Southeastern Grocers reportedly mulling sale

In the wake of a canceled initial public offering, Winn-Dixie parent Southeastern Grocers is considering a sale of the company, according to a published report.

The Jacksonville, Fla.-based supermarket company is currently in negotiations with potential buyers, the Wall Street Journal reported Thursday, citing anonymous sources.

A Southeastern Grocers spokeswoman told Winsight Grocery Business that the company doesn’t comment on “market rumors” but added that it regularly weighs strategic options, including potential transactions.

“We are always reviewing ways to enhance shareholder value, and to the extent that credible strategic or other shareholder value-enhancing transactions emerge, we have an obligation to consider them,” Meredith Hurley, director of public relations and community at Southeastern Grocers, said in an email statement. “While the potential for any such transaction remains ever-present in our industry, we will remain focused upon advancing our transformational strategy, supporting our associates and delivering a world-class shopping experience for our customers.”

Overall, Southeastern Grocers operates approximately 420 supermarkets under the Winn-Dixie, Harveys and Fresco y Más banners in Florida, Alabama, Louisiana, Georgia and Mississippi.

Just over a year ago, Southeastern Grocers aborted plans for an IPO, which represented the second time in seven years that it had done so. The retailer said in late January 2021 that it was delaying the IPO, an announcement that came about a week after its launch. The latest effort to go public got under way in September 2020, with the confidential filing of an S-1 draft registration with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Southeastern Grocers had previously explored going public but nixed its stock offering. Bi-Lo Holdings, the former parent of Winn-Dixie and Bi-Lo, filed for an IPO in September 2013 as Southeastern Grocers LLC. Then in August 2014, the company pulled the registration, which hadn’t been declared effective by the SEC.

Up against a range of fast-growing competitors, Southeastern Grocers in recent years has worked to revamp its business—focusing mainly on Winn-Dixie—and downsize its store base.

In September 2020, the company made deals to sell 23 Bi-Lo and Harveys stores to grocery wholesaler and retailer Alex Lee and to independent grocer B&T Foods. The transactions advanced plans to phase out the Bi-Lo banner, which came to light in June 2020 when Southeastern Grocers reported the sale of 62 Bi-Lo and Harveys stores and a distribution center to Ahold Delhaize USA’s Food Lion.

The dissolution of Bi-Lo was part of a five-year business transformation initiated with Southeastern Grocers’ emergence from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in May 2018. Former Schnuck Markets and Giant Food executive Anthony Hucker was tapped as president and CEO in August 2017 to lead the company’s turnaround.