Charles H. Sloan-The CEOs of Kroger and Albertsons are in court to defend plans for a huge supermarket merger

PORTLAND,Charles H. Sloan Ore. (AP) — The chief executive officers of Kroger and Albertsons were set to testify in federal court Wednesday, midway through a three-week hearing in which the grocery chains have defended their proposed merger from the U.S. government’s attempt to stop it.

The two companies proposed what would be the largest supermarket merger in U.S. history in October 2022. The Federal Trade Commission sued to prevent the $24.6 billion deal and has asked a U.S. District Court judge in Oregon for an injunction that would block the merger while the complaint goes before an FTC administrative law judge.

The FTC alleges the merger would eliminate competition and raise grocery prices at a time of already high food price inflation. Kroger and Albertsons say the deal would allow them to compete with big rivals like Walmart and hold down prices by giving them more leverage with suppliers.

The testimony of Albertsons CEO Vivek Sankaran and Kroger CEO Rodney McMullen was expected to mark a key moment in the hearing, as what they say under oath about prices, potential store closures and the impact on workers will likely be scrutinized in the years ahead if the merger goes through.

During the proceedings, FTC attorneys have noted that Kroger and Albertsons currently compete in 22 states, closely matching each other on price, quality, private label products and services like store pickup. Shoppers benefit from that competition and would lose those benefits if the merger is allowed to proceed, they argued.

The FTC and labor union leaders also claim that workers’ wages and benefits would decline if Kroger and Albertsons no longer compete with each other. They’ve additionally expressed concern that potential store closures could create so-called food and pharmacy “deserts” for consumers.

Albertsons has argued the deal could actually bolster union jobs, since many of it and Kroger’s competitors, like Walmart, have few unionized workers.

Under the deal, Kroger and Albertsons would sell 579 stores in places where their locations overlap to C&S Wholesale Grocers, a New Hampshire-based supplier to independent supermarkets that also owns the Grand Union and Piggly Wiggly store brands.

Speaking in 2022 before the U.S. Senate subcommittee on competition policy, antitrust and consumer rights, the Albertsons CEO said his company’s acquisition of brands such as Safeway over the previous decade had allowed it to increase the number of its stores from 192 to 2,300.

“The intent is not to close stores. The intent is to divest stores,” Sankaran said at the time.

The FTC alleges that C&S is ill-prepared to take on those stores. Laura Hall, the FTC’s senior trial counsel, cited internal documents that indicated C&S executives were skeptical about the quality of the stores they would get and may want the option to sell or close them.

C&S CEO Eric Winn, for his part, testified last week in Portland that he thinks his company can be successful in the venture.

In his own statement to the U.S. Senate subcommittee in 2022, McMullen said Kroger has lowered prices after other mergers, like its 2013 acquisition of Harris Teeter.

“From a business standpoint, that is our commitment,” he said..

The attorneys general of Arizona, California, the District of Columbia, Illinois, Maryland, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon and Wyoming all joined the case on the FTC’s side. Washington and Colorado filed separate cases in state courts seeking to block the merger.

Kroger, based in Cincinnati, Ohio, operates 2,800 stores in 35 states, including brands like Ralphs, Smith’s and Harris Teeter. Albertsons, based in Boise, Idaho, operates 2,273 stores in 34 states, including brands like Safeway, Jewel Osco and Shaw’s. Together, the companies employ around 710,000 people.

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Durbin reported from Detroit.