Marsh Seeks OK to Sell Stores to Kroger, Fresh Encounter Cos.

In the wake of an auction held on Monday for the 44 remaining Marsh stores, the bankrupt grocer has filed paperwork seeking approval to sell 11 stores for $16 million to Topvalco Inc., a subsidiary of Cincinnati-based Kroger, with another 15 to be purchased by supermarket company Generative Growth II LLC, described by the Indianapolis Business Journal (IBJ) as an entity of Findlay Ohio-based Fresh Encounter, for about $8 million.

There was no mention in the paperwork, filed by Indianapolis-based Marsh as part of its Chapter 11 bankruptcy case in the state of Delaware of the fate of the 18 other stores on the block, the Star Press, in Muncie, Ind., reported. 

According to documents cited in published reports, Topvalco successfully bid for Marsh stores in Bloomington (two), Brownsburg, Fishers, Greenwood, Indianapolis (two), Muncie (two) and Zionsville, Ind. (two), while Generative Growth successfully bid for the grocer’s locations in Elwood, Greensburg, Hartford City, Indianapolis (two), Marion, Pendleton, New Palestine, Richmond and Tipton, Ind., and Columbus, Eaton, Middletown, Troy and Van Wert, Ohio

IBJ reported that the sales of the stores, which require bankruptcy court approval, must surmount the objection of Woonsocket, R.I.-based CVS Health, which in April acquired Marsh’s pharmacy accounts and inventory for $38 million. As a condition of the deal, the 37 Marsh stores with pharmacies were precluded from operating pharmacies for five years, the newspaper noted, citing a recent bankruptcy court filing.