FTC OKs Tops Markets/Price Chopper Merger With Conditions

The Federal Trade Commission has approved the merger of Tops Markets and Price Chopper. The both have  have agreed to divest 12 Tops supermarkets to C&S Wholesale Grocers to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that their proposed merger would likely be anticompetitive in 11 local markets across upstate New York and Vermont. 
In these 11 local areas, the FTC complaint noted, the proposed merger would result in highly concentrated markets. According to the FTC complaint, without the divestitures ordered, the merger is likely to allow the newly merged company to increase prices above competitive levels, unilaterally or by coordinating with competitors. 

The approval was announced Monday, clearing the way legally for the two supermarket chains to join. Under the terms of the agreement, the two companies will be managed locally by their respective leaders and will continue under their current identities.

But they will now be owned and overseen by a new parent company called Northeast Grocery, Inc.

Scott Grimmett, the current president and CEO of Price Chopper/Market 32, will lead the new parent company. He will also serve on its board of directors along with former Tops Markets chairman and chief executive officer Frank Curci.

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