Albertson’s agrees to resume buyout talks

BOISE — Grocery chain Supervalu Inc. said Friday it has resumed talks to acquire Albertson’s Inc., the nation’s second-largest traditional supermarket chain.

Albertson’s said earlier Friday that it had received a new offer for the entire company from a consortium that had previously made a bid and said it planned to begin negotiations.

It did not name the members of the bidding group.

But later in the day, Minneapolis-based Supervalu said in a statement that it was a member of the consortium that had resumed talks with Albertson’s.

Neither Supervalu nor Albertson’s said how much was being offered.

They also cautioned there was no guarantee a deal would be reached.

Albertson’s shares rose 24 cents to close at $24.11 on the New York Stock Exchange, while Supervalu lost 34 cents to finish at $31.85.

The announcements came a day after The Wall Street Journal reported Supervalu and a consortium of private-equity investors offered just more than $26 per share for Boise-based Albertson’s. Its shares have traded as high as $26.51 over the past 52 weeks.

A previous offer — reportedly valued at about $9.6 billion in cash and stock, or about $26 per share — fell apart when the parties could not agree on who would be responsible if antitrust regulators tried to block the deal. At that time, Albertson’s said it was no longer considering a sale of the entire company.