Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co.’s filing for bankruptcy protection may prompt Dutch competitor Royal Ahold NV to bid for the U.S. retailer’s Pathmark stores to add to grocery operations in the country, analysts said.
A&P, which operates 400 supermarkets under the Waldbaum’s, Food Emporium and Pathmark brands, filed for Chapter 11 protection from creditors on Dec. 12. Amsterdam-based Ahold owns the Stop & Shop grocery chain and acquired a 25-outlet retailer in Richmond, Virginia, a year ago. The Dutch company had 2.4 billion euros ($3.2 billion) in cash at the end of September.
“For Stop & Shop, the good news is a further weakening of its largest competitor and the possibility to buy some pockets of stores,” John David Roeg, an Amsterdam-based analyst at ING Groep NV, said today in a report to clients.
“We don’t exclude Ahold to take over some stores from A&P’s portfolio,” Richard Withagen, an analyst at SNS Securities in Amsterdam, said in a note today.
