WASHINGTON - U.S. Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Chairwoman of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Competition Policy, Antitrust, and Consumer Rights, Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), and Cory Booker (D-NJ) urged the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to investigate the proposed merger between Kroger and Albertsons, voicing concern about this transaction’s potential implications for consumers.
“We write to express our serious concern about the recently announced merger between Kroger and Albertsons and to ask for your assurance that this proposed deal will be carefully and thoroughly investigated by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC),” the senators wrote to FTC Chair Lina Khan. “As food prices remain elevated, too many American families are struggling to put food on the table for their families. These issues are worse for families in areas without access to affordable, nutritious food. And across the country, more than six million American children suffer from not having enough food.”
“Against that backdrop, last week the nation’s two largest grocery chains, Albertsons and Kroger, announced a proposed $25 billion merger. This merger raises considerable antitrust concerns. The grocery industry is essential to daily life, and Americans need the benefits that robust competition brings, namely lower prices, higher quality, and innovation,” the senators continued.
Additionally, Klobuchar and Senator Mike Lee (R-UT), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Competition Policy, Antitrust, and Consumer Rights, announced that they will hold a hearing in November to examine the proposed transaction.
Full text of the letter is available HERE and below:
Dear Chair Khan:
We write to express our serious concern about the recently announced merger between Kroger and Albertsons and to ask for your assurance that this proposed deal will be carefully and thoroughly investigated by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).
As food prices remain elevated, too many American families are struggling to put food on the table for their families. These issues are worse for families in areas without access to affordable, nutritious food. And across the country, more than six million American children suffer from not having enough food.
Against that backdrop, last week the nation’s two largest grocery chains, Albertsons and Kroger, announced a proposed $25 billion merger. This merger raises considerable antitrust concerns. The grocery industry is essential to daily life, and Americans need the benefits that robust competition brings, namely lower prices, higher quality, and innovation.
As you are aware, the grocery industry has become increasingly consolidated. When Albertson’s merged with Safeway in 2015, the FTC found that the merger was likely to harm competition in 130 separate markets and required the company to sell more than 150 stores. Given the increases in food prices recently, we question whether the divestitures that the agency secured when approving that deal were sufficient, especially since Albertson’s was allowed to buy back many of the stores that the FTC required it to sell.
We understand that last fall, the FTC launched an investigation into grocery prices and the availability of food products, sending data requests to a number of companies, including Kroger. We ask that the agency incorporate the findings from that investigation in its analysis of this newly proposed merger.
We stand ready to assist the FTC in protecting Americans from anticompetitive mergers in all industries, and especially as to industries such as groceries, upon which all of us depend every day.
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