FCL buys city Safeway location

14 total as part of Sobeys deal

Federated Co- operatives Limited (FCL) is buying 14 food stores from Sobeys Inc., including the Safeway locations at The Centre Mall on Eighth Street East in Saskatoon and the Safeway at 3801 Albert Street in Regina.

The other 12 are located in Edmonton (four), Winnipeg (four), Taber, Leduc, Wetaskiwin and Fort Saskatchewan.

Sobeys is also selling 15 stores to Overwaitea Food Group, all of which are located in British Columbia and Alberta.

Most of the sales were required as part of Sobeys agreement with the Competition Bureau related to purchase of Canada Safeway in 2013.

Sobeys, which is owned by Empire Co. Ltd., purchased 213 stores under the initial agreement, which included 199 in-store pharmacies and 62 gas stations on the Safeway properties.

The retailer will still come away with a gain of 190 locations overall from the Safeway acquisition

The sales announced Thursday see 22 of 23 stores Sobeys was required to sell change hands. The last store Sobeys must sell is a Price Chopper location in Winnipeg and the company has signed a binding letter of intent with another retailer for that sale.

The proceeds from the sale of the 30 stores in total will be about $430 million which Sobeys said will be used to repay bank debt.

“Both the Overwaitea and Co-op agreements have received approval from the Competition Bureau and Sobeys anticipates the deals to close in March or early April,” said a Sobeys press release.

The stores are located in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba.

FCL will be holding a news conference Friday morning to discuss the purchase.

Co-op has agreed to purchase the following

14 store locations:

Safeway 3310 — 8 Street East, Saskatoon, SK Safeway 3801 Albert Street, Regina, SK Safeway 1441 Main Street, Winnipeg, MB Safeway 77 Vermillion Road, Winnipeg, MB Safeway 850 Dakota Street, Winnipeg, MB Safeway 1120 Grant Avenue, Winnipeg, MB Safeway 2331 — 66 Street NW, Edmonton, AB Safeway 4926 — 46 Avenue, Taber, AB Sobeys 10004 — 99 Avenue, Fort Saskatchewan, AB Sobeys 5421 — 50 Street, Leduc, AB Sobeys 4703 — 50 Street, Wetaskiwin, AB Sobeys 18370 Lessard Road, Edmonton, AB Sobeys 5036 — 106 Avenue NW, Edmonton, AB IGA 6204 — 90 Avenue NW, Edmonton, AB