MIAMI – German grocery giant Aldi has agreed to purchase Florida-based supermarket chain Winn-Dixie, according to an announcement Wednesday from Southeastern Grocers, the latter’s parent company.
It’s part of a “comprehensive strategic divestiture” of Southeastern Grocers, which has stores located in Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana and Mississippi, as reported by News 6 partner Local 10 News.
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The company, headquartered in Jacksonville, is also selling its Harveys Supermarkets stores to Aldi. Four-hundred stores in total will be sold to Aldi, according to the company.
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After the sale, stores will continue to operate under their current Winn-Dixie and Harveys formats, the company said, but Aldi “will also evaluate which locations will convert” to its no-frills format.
“For those stores that are not converted, ALDI intends for them to continue to operate as Winn-Dixie and Harveys Supermarket stores,” the company said in a news release.
Not going to Aldi, however, are the company’s Fresco y Más stores.
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Instead, the chain, which caters to Hispanic customers and has a large presence in Miami-Dade County, will be spun off into its own company, Fresco Retail Group, LLC.
Upon independence, the 28-store chain will “continue operating its stores and pharmacies as they are presently,” the news release states.
The merger is expected to close in the first half of 2024, subject to regulatory approvals and other closing conditions.
“SEG will continue to operate its respective banners and stores in the normal course of business up to and until the transactions are completed,” its news release states.
Financial terms of the deal weren’t disclosed in the news release Wednesday.
Aldi was founded in 1946 in Germany. The grocery chain now operates more than 10,000 stores in 20 countries.
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