Seven US state officials oppose Kroger’s proposed Albertsons acquisition

By Diane Bartz

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Officials from seven U.S. states wrote to U.S. antitrust enforcers on Wednesday to ask for Kroger (NYSE:)’s proposed $24.6 billion acquisition of Albertsons to be stopped.

In a letter to Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Chair Lina Khan, the secretaries of state said that the deal would give a combined Kroger/Albertsons nearly a quarter of the U.S. food retail market.

“We are strongly opposed to this merger and urge you to stop this corporate consolidation that is draining Americans of their hard-earned wages and livelihoods,” wrote the secretaries of state from Colorado, Arizona, Maine, Minnesota, New Mexico, Rhode Island and Vermont.

All seven are elected Democrats.

A Kroger spokesperson said that the planned deal would be good for consumers and store workers. Large, non-unionized competitors such as Walmart (NYSE:) and Amazon (NASDAQ:) would be the only parties to benefit if it were blocked, the spokesperson said.

The FTC declined comment.

Staffers for the FTC, which is doing a federal antitrust probe into the deal announced in October, have reached out to experts in farming, food desserts and smaller grocery chains, according to people who spoke with the agency.

While federal antitrust agencies often work with state attorneys general on merger reviews, they do not usually work with secretaries of state, who in many states have a more limited business-oversight role.