Kroger to Acquire Harris Teeter Supermarkets
Posted on July 10, 2013
Kroger and Harris Teeter have announced a merger agreement where Kroger will acquire Harris Teeter and its 212 stores. Kroger will purchase all outstanding shares of Harris Teeter for $49.38 per share in cash. The deal is worth $2.5 billion.
Harris Teeter stores are located primarily in North Carolina, Virginia, South Carolina, Maryland, Tennessee, Delaware, Florida, Georgia and the District of Columbia. The company also distribution centers in Greensboro, NC and Indian Trail, NC and a dairy facility in High Point, NC.
As a combined entity the company will operate 2,631 supermarkets in 34 states and the District of Columbia. Harris Teeter will continue to operate its stores as a subsidiary of The Kroger Co. after closing. It will also continue to be led by key members of Harris Teeter's senior management team.
David B. Dillon, Kroger's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, told the New York Times that Harris Teeter has a stronger fresh reputation. Dillon says, "They have a stronger fresh reputation, and by fresh I'm really referring to all the perishable departments, than some of the Kroger operations. Our intent is to learn from them, 'How do they get that reputation? What are some of the things they do that create that?' It won't be as much, I think, in the actual products as in the methods by which we get the products to the market."
Kroger is seen as having a stronger loyalty program and could help the Harris Teeter stores approve in this area.