Canadian food and drug retailer will hold option to buy full ownership
Building on its acquisition of fresh market chain Farm Boy, Empire Company Ltd., the parent of Sobeys Inc., plans to buy a 51% stake in fresh grocer Longo’s for $357 million (Canadian).
Under the deal, announced yesterday, Stellarton, Nova Scotia-based Empire will acquire Longo’s 36 stores in Ontario and its Grocery Gateway e-commerce arm. Plans call for Longo’s to join Empire’s network of supermarket brands in the province including Sobeys, Safeway, Foodland, FreshCo, Price Chopper and Farm Boy and for Grocery Gateway, now serving 70,000 customers, to operate as a stand-alone business but collaborate with Empire’s Voilà online grocery operation to create efficiencies.
Empire s family of Ontario-based brands already includes Sobeys, Foodland, FreshCo, Farm Boy and Voilà.
Canada’s Empire Co. Ltd. is increasing its footprint in the greater Toronto area (GTA) by signing an agreement to purchase 51% of Longo s, a family-built network of specialty grocery stores, and the chain s Grocery Gateway e-commerce business.
Longo s and Grocery Gateway join Empire s family of brands in Ontario, which already includes Sobeys Inc., Foodland, FreshCo, Farm Boy and Voilà. Empire has strong momentum, and we are laser-focused on our Project Horizon growth plans in key markets like the GTA, both in bricks and mortar and e-commerce, said Michael Medline, president and CEO of Empire. Longo s has built one of the most successful and sought-after brands in the GTA and Southwestern Ontario. Longo s is a crown jewel of grocery, and as a values-driven company, Longo s culture aligns closely with Empire. We couldn t be happier to be partnering with Anthony
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Michael Medline, who runs one of the biggest grocery chains in Canada, was looking for a place last summer to meet with the head of a rival chain. It was a sensitive meeting about a potential acquisition, so it had to happen someplace where they wouldn’t know anyone.
“We couldn’t, obviously, go to each other’s offices,” said Medline, chief executive of Sobeys’ parent company Empire Co. Ltd., partly because of the pandemic, but mostly because he worried his staff would recognize Anthony Longo, chief executive of the popular southern Ontario chain Longo Brothers Fruit Markets Inc.
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