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Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost enters the Kroger-Albersons court merger fight

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CINCINNATI (WVXU) — Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost wants a federal court to toss out an antitrust lawsuit brought by the Federal Trade Commission that would block a planned merger between Cincinnati-based Kroger and Boise, Idaho-based Albertsons.

A customer removes her purchases at a Kroger grocery store in Flowood, Miss., Wednesday, June 26, 2019.
A customer removes her purchases at a Kroger grocery store in Flowood, Miss., Wednesday, June 26, 2019. [Rogelio V. Solis | AP]
Yost and three other state attorneys general on Wednesday filed an amicus brief with the U.S. District Court in Oregon. They want the merger to go ahead, and say the FTC’s opposition is “based on a flawed understanding of the marketplace in which the two retailers operate.”

The FTC says the proposed $24.6 billion deal would eliminate competition between the two chains, resulting in higher prices.

In a statement, Yost writes, “The FTC’s tunnel vision in this case risks chilling the very competition that it seeks to protect. A full view of the competitive landscape shows no reason to delay this deal further.”

Yost is joined in the friend of the court brief by the attorneys general from Alabama, Georgia and Iowa.

The FTC, eight states — Arizona, California, Illinois, Maryland, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon and Wyoming — and the District of Columbia sued in February to halt the planned merger. AGs in Colorado and Washington had filed their own lawsuits.

The retailers announced the merger plan in Oct. 2022. It would be the largest supermarket merger in U.S. history. Ohio-based Kroger is the biggest U.S. supermarket operator with more than 2,700 locations; its stores include Ralphs, Harris Teeter, Fred Meyer and King Soopers. Idaho-based Albertsons is the second-largest chain with nearly 2,300 stores, including Safeway and Vons.

The two companies employ more than 710,000 people in nearly 5,000 stores and various facilities. While Kroger and Albertsons are the largest grocery chains, Walmart has the largest share of the grocery market.