Western US Grocery Powerhouse Albertsons to go IPO

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By Jacob Maslow

If you are looking for a grocery stock that is a serious market player in a very lucrative region of the US, check out the upcoming Albertsons IPO. On September 25, the NYSE has approved a symbol for the upcoming listing for the grocery giant-‘ABS.’
Why is Albertsons a big deal? Why should you consider its IPO stock? Well, Albertsons is such a huge grocery chain that most American consumers don’t even know they shop at Albertsons. How? Albertsons has a direct label grocery chain with the same corporate name. It also operates under Safeway, Tom Thumb, and Acme among other regional chain names. In terms of market penetration and reach, Albertsons is huge. In fact, it is so big, there is only one other national grocery chain that is bigger-Kroger Co. All told, Albertsons operates 2,205 stores across the country.

 

While the company has not released information regarding the actual timeline for stock sales as well as possible price ranges for its IPO shares, potential investors should take note that the company is losing money. Albertsons bought up rival chain Safeway back in 2014 and loaded up on debt to do so. In the year to date, Albertsons racked up losses totaling $413 million. Another factor to consider is that most of the proceeds of the IPO, according to filing papers, will be used to pay down the company’s sizable debt-debt that it racked up when acquiring Safeway. Finally, another factor that may impact the near term pricing of Albertsons stock is the fact that a lot of control, as outlined in its IPO prospectus, will reside with its current biggest shareholders-Kimco and Albertsons Investor.

 

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