Rite Aid and Albertson merger is off

Image sources: Albertsons / JeepersMedia 

According to the grocery store blog Coupons in the News the Rite Aid chain and grocery giant Albertsons called off their planned merger a day ahead of a contentious Rite Aid shareholder meeting where the deal would more than likely to have been voted down.

"Several major investors had objected, saying that Rite Aid stakeholders would be getting the short end of the stick in the combined company." So they are going it alone for now.

Albertsons disagreed and was unwilling to change the terms of the merger.

So the deal is off.

The original plan was to put a pharmacy in every Albertsons and grocery items in Rite Aid. Rite Aid stores would remain, unless they were too close to an Albertsons.

Rite Aid was almost bought out by Walgreens in 2015 but that deal also fell through.