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Kroger sued the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) on Monday, pushing back on the government’s authority to stop its mergers with Albertsons ACI+0.05%.
The grocery giant filed a preliminary injunction in the U.S. District Court, Southern District of Ohio claiming the FTC’s efforts to stop the merger are unconstitutional.
The Cincinnati-based chain said the FTC is illegally challenging the merger “through the Executive Branch rather than in the independent Judicial Branch,” citing the Supreme Court decision in June that the SEC’s use of in-house tribunals instead of jury trials is sometimes unconstitutional. It believes the case should be adjudicated in federal court, not the FTC’s administrative court.
Kroger KR+1.21% said back in October 2022 it planned to acquire the Boise-based Albertsons ACI+0.05% for a whopping $24.6 billion. If approved, the deal would create of one the country’s largest chains, employing about 700,000 people in around 5,000 stores.
The FTC filed a suit in February trying to stop the merger, claiming it would decrease competition. Kroger KR+1.21% and Albertsons are rivals, and the FTC worried the merger would increase grocery prices for consumers. The merger similarly received pushback from state attorney generals, who said it could inflate food prices.
The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, the biggest grocery store union in the US, also opposed the deal.
Kroger Chairman and CEO Rodney McMullen said Monday that the merger “is squarely focused on ensuring we bring customers lower prices starting day one while securing the future of good-paying union jobs.”
“We stand prepared to defend this merger in the upcoming trial in federal court – the appropriate venue for this matter to be heard – and we are asking the Court to halt what amounts to an unlawful proceeding before the FTC’s own in-house tribunal,” he added.