Fresh Market Sells To Apollo Global for $1.36B

Fresh Market, a specialty grocery outfit, has agreed to be acquired by Apollo Global Management in a $1.36 billion cash deal.  That represents an offer of $28.50 per share, a 24 percent premium when stacked against Fresh Market’s closing price Friday afternoon.

The board unanimously approved the deal, except for one rather high profile missing piece: chairman and founder Ray Berry. Berry did not vote against the deal, instead he had recused himself from all discussions of the potential sale and from voting on the transaction itself.

There were rumors that Berry was considering to take the firm private himself, though those appear to have come to nothing. Berry and his son Brett together own about 9.8 percent of Fresh Market’s outstanding shares.

The deal that has fully committed financing in place is expected to close in the second quarter of 2016.