Dive Brief:
- C&S Wholesale Grocers has agreed to acquire SpartanNash in a $1.77 billion deal set to close in late 2025, the companies announced Monday.
- C&S is set to pay $26.90 for each share of SpartanNash’s common stock, representing a 52.5% premium over SpartanNash’s closing price on Friday. The deal has been unanimously approved by both companies’ boards.
- The combined company will run almost 60 distribution centers, serve about 10,000 independent retail locations and own more than 200 grocery stores.
Dive Insight:
C&S and SpartanNash cast their plan to merge as a way for the grocery companies to better compete with what they describe as “various extremely large global grocers in the U.S. food-at-home space.”
“Being able to operate at a larger scale, supported by the combined innovative capabilities of the two companies, enables a more efficient supply chain as well as an ability to secure the best possible delivered cost of goods and promotional discounts, which are expected to translate to better pricing for community retailers and at the shelf for consumers,” the grocery distribution companies said in a press release about their deal.
The companies noted that the transaction price includes the assumption by C&S of SpartanNash’s net debt. SpartanNash had net long-term debt of about $757 million as of April. 19.
C&S’s plan to combine with SpartanNash follows a series of moves by both grocery wholesalers aimed at bolstering their presence as supermarket operators.
New Hampshire-based C&S operates supermarkets under the Piggly Wiggly and Grand Union banners while SpartanNash, headquartered in Michigan, owns banners including Family Fare, Martin’s Super Markets and D&W Fresh Market.
The deal comes more than six months after C&S’s plan to acquire nearly 600 grocery stores through a divestiture deal with Kroger and Albertsons fell apart when those supermarket operators abandoned their effort to merge at the end of 2024.
In February, C&S announced that it was part of a consortium of investors that bought around 170 Winn-Dixie and Harveys Supermarket stores as part of a deal to acquire Southeastern Grocers from Aldi.
Meanwhile, SpartanNash added more than 50 grocery stores to its portfolio last year through its purchases of retailers, including Metcalfe’s Market and Fresh Encounter. The company brought on a new vice president of retail operations in April and a vice president of marketing for the company’s retail banners the following month. In June, SpartanNash confirmed that it had eliminated an unspecified number of corporate roles as part of a reorganization.
Although SpartanNash generates about 67% of its sales from its wholesale operations, the company has grown increasingly dependent on its retail business to drive revenue growth. SpartanNash has seen five quarters in a row where its retail sales have increased on a year-over-year basis, while its wholesale sales have declined for two consecutive quarters.
C&S has also taken steps to shrink its grocery distribution business. In May, the company disclosed that it would permanently shutter a distribution center in Baldwin, Florida, this year, and lay off almost 500 workers as a result.
Investors reacted positively to the news of the deal. SpartanNash’s shares rose more than 50% Monday morning to their highest level since March 2023.
