Kroger’s bid for Albertsons (ACI)I fell for a pitch (Oct 2022) which said Kroger was offering to buy ACI for $34/share when the trading price was $26. In addition ACI declared a divi of $6.85/share.
Too good to be true? Anyway, I bought in, at first the courts blocked the divi but eventually allowed it but the share price tanked and almost exactly cancelled out the divi! ACI shares are trading around $21 now and I’m wondering if the $34 offer from Kroger still stands. Anybody know?
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The deal is still in the works, from what I can tell, the challenge is getting past the FTC. Antitrust negotiations continue, as they apparently haven’t convinced the government that selling some of the stores to C&S will fix the anticompetitive issues brought up by the combination… and the California Attorney General has said he’s also likely to sue to stop the combination.
So they’re still trying to merge, and the financial terms haven’t changed that I’ve seen, but investors seem to be betting that the probability of the deal going through is lower now because of the ongoing antitrust scrutiny. I have no idea how it will work out, personally — most of the time a deal can be made even it seems unlikely, like Microsoft and Activision, but sometimes the government opposition is really a stake in the heart. And it doesn’t help that California looks more likely to sue to block it even if the FTC backs down (though you never know, it could all be negotiating to get more concessions out of Kroger).
Thanks for your appraisal. I’ve neither lost nor made much out of this – a stagnant investment so… I’m going to sell at the next peak which I hope/calculate to be $25.1 on 30 Nov or with 1 Standard Deviation on either side ($23.6 on 18 Nov and $26.5 on 12 Dec). Don’t be fooled by the spurious accuracy, I will watch with bated breath and probably panic sell at the first sign of derailment!