Albertsons Gets Government Approval To Buy Back Some Stores It Had To Sell When It Acquired Safeway

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Kevin Gross approved Albertsons Cos.’s plan to reacquire 33 stores it had to sell as part of the government’s requirements for approving its acquisition of rival Safeway Inc. In January 2015, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission approved the merger deal on the condition that the companies would sell 168 stores to preserve competition in the retail market in several Western states. Haggen Holdings LLC bought most of the stores; however, it struggled to make the stores work and had to close some of them.