Safeway Acquires Alaska’s Largest Retailer

Supermarket giant Safeway Inc. said it has acquired Carr-Gottstein Foods, Alaska’s largest retailer, for $110 million. The companies said the agreement will pay Carr’s shareholders $12.50 a share. Carr’s stock was unchanged at $7.88 on the New York Stock exchange. The acquisition was announced after the stock market closed. Safeway shares rose 6 cents to $43.19 on the NYSE. Carr and Safeway declined to comment on possible store closures or layoffs. Carr has 3,200 employees. Pleasanton-based Safeway employs about 1,000 workers in Alaska in 12 stores. Carr owns 49 stores throughout Alaska as well as the state’s largest food warehouse and distribution operation and Alaska’s largest freight company. Safeway will continue to operate the newly acquired stores under the Carr name, Safeway said. The deal still must be approved by Carr’s shareholders and federal antitrust regulators. The companies expect to complete the transaction by early 1999. Carr has been laboring under a heavy debt load since launching a buyback of its stock nearly three years ago. The company has about $220 million in debt. The company has posted losses for the past two years. In 1997, the company lost $5.6 million on sales of $589 million.