A&P Sells Metro Shares
MONTVALE, N.J. -- The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co., Inc., here said today that to finance its acquisition of Carteret, N.J.-based Pathmark Stores, Inc., it has sold all of its 11,726,645 shares of Montreal-based retailer Metro, Inc., of which, 1.5 million shares will be bought by Metro. Gross proceeds from the sale of the shares will come to about $347 million.
Metro’s purchase represents about 1.3 percent of all Class A subordinate voting shares of the company currently outstanding. The shares bought by the Canadian grocer will be canceled and be counted against the 4 million Class A subordinate voting shares that Metro is permitted to purchase according to its current normal course issuer bid program. The transaction is scheduled to close on Thursday. The investor agreement dated Aug. 15, 2005 between Metro and A&P will also end on that date.
A&P operates 410 stores in nine states and the District of Columbia under the following banners: A&P, Waldbaum's, The Food Emporium, Super Foodmart, Super Fresh, and Food Basics.
Metro operates a network of almost 600 supermarkets in Quebec and Ontario under the Metro, Metro Plus, Super C, A&P, Dominion, Loeb, and Food Basics banners, as well as over 250 pharmacies under the Brunet, Clini Plus, The Pharmacy and Drug Basics banners.
Metro’s purchase represents about 1.3 percent of all Class A subordinate voting shares of the company currently outstanding. The shares bought by the Canadian grocer will be canceled and be counted against the 4 million Class A subordinate voting shares that Metro is permitted to purchase according to its current normal course issuer bid program. The transaction is scheduled to close on Thursday. The investor agreement dated Aug. 15, 2005 between Metro and A&P will also end on that date.
A&P operates 410 stores in nine states and the District of Columbia under the following banners: A&P, Waldbaum's, The Food Emporium, Super Foodmart, Super Fresh, and Food Basics.
Metro operates a network of almost 600 supermarkets in Quebec and Ontario under the Metro, Metro Plus, Super C, A&P, Dominion, Loeb, and Food Basics banners, as well as over 250 pharmacies under the Brunet, Clini Plus, The Pharmacy and Drug Basics banners.