Ohio attorney general asks court to approve Kroger merger – The Tribune

Staff report

(COLUMBUS) – Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost has asked a federal court to dismiss a Federal Trade Commission antitrust lawsuit seeking to block a merger between Kroger and Albertsons.
“The FTC’s tunnel vision in this case risks weakening the very competition it is trying to protect,” Yost said. “A comprehensive look at the competitive landscape shows no reason to delay this deal any further.”
In an amicus curiae brief filed Tuesday in a U.S. district court in Oregon, Yost and three other state attorneys general are asking the court to allow Kroger’s acquisition of Albertsons.
Yost and his colleagues argue that the FTC’s opposition to the deal is based on a poor understanding of the market in which the two retailers operate.
The FTC – joined by eight states and the District of Columbia – filed suit in February to stop the merger, arguing that it would hinder competition and lead to price increases for consumers.
Yost and his co-authors dispute these claims, citing a lack of evidence to support the FTC’s conclusion. Rather, they say the case is driven by a policy goal of the FTC – to prevent all mergers of large grocery chains.
According to the announcement, the merger of Kroger, based in Cincinnati, and Albertsons, headquartered in Boise, Idaho, would create a stronger competitor in the food retail sector.
To maintain competition, Kroger would divest stores in areas where the chains currently have overlap. The retailers, which announced their merger plans in October 2022, have more than 5,000 stores across the country, only a tenth of which overlap, the letter said.
The attorneys general contend that the FTC’s reasoning fails to take into account the entire market environment. In particular, the FTC’s narrow definition of “supermarkets” excludes non-traditional grocery retailers such as Costco, Aldi, Whole Foods and online sellers, the letter states.
By relying on this flawed definition, the FTC falsely assumes that consumers would have no choice if a hypothetical supermarket monopoly were to raise its prices, the letter says. The letter goes on to say that the FTC itself rejected “supermarkets” as a market definition in a 1983 case.
The attorneys general are asking the court to deny the FTC’s request for a preliminary injunction. In addition to Yost, the attorneys general of Alabama, Georgia and Iowa also joined the amicus curiae brief.