Richfood

Richfood Holdings Inc., owner of Metro Food Markets, has completed its purchase of Dart Group Corp. for $160 a share, or about $207 million, the company said.Richmond, Va.-based Richfood, a grocery wholesaler that has expanded into retailing, acquired Dart, a Landover-based retail holding company, primarily to strengthen its supermarket business in the mid-Atlantic.The deal gives Richfood Shopper's Food Warehouse, a chain of 37 discount supermarkets in Maryland and Virginia and the third largest chain in metropolitan Washington, with stores in Anne Arundel, Charles, Frederick, Montgomery and Prince George's counties.

Supervalu Inc. completed yesterday its acquisition of Richfood Holdings Inc., the owner of Catonsville-based Metro Food Markets, for $1.5 billion in stock, cash and assumed debt.With the addition of the $4 billion food wholesaler and retailer based in Richmond, Va., Supervalu strengthens its position as the nation's biggest grocery distributor and becomes the 10th-largest supermarket operator in the United States.The purchase is expected to increase the Minneapolis company's retail store sales by more than 35 percent, to about $8 billion, with total annual sales of $25 billion.

Richfood Holdings Inc. will gobble up Super Rite Corp. in an acquisition valued at $320 million, catapulting the Richmond, Va.-based food distributor and retailer into the top echelon of the industry with more than $3 billion in annual sales.With the addition of Super Rite of Harrisburg, Pa., announced yesterday, Richfood would double its sales and move from 12th to fourth place among wholesale food suppliers nationally, serving more than 1,700 grocery stores in the mid-Atlantic region.The deal includes Super Rite's Randallstown-based retail arm, consisting of seven Basics supermarkets and seven Metro superstores in the Baltimore metropolitan area as well as a Metro in Dover, Del.Super Rite's major customers include Giant and Shoppers Food Warehouse among 238 supermarkets supplied in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, West Virginia, Virginia and Maryland.

With a new and more powerful owner, Metro Food Markets will become an even more formidable competitor in the region's grocery wars.Grocery retailing experts agreed that the 18-store Metro chain can only benefit from the deal that would allow Supervalu Inc., the largest supermarket distributor in the United States, to acquire Richfood Holdings Inc., a Richmond, Va.-based wholesaler and Metro's owner, for $1.5 billion in cash, stock and assumed debt.Supervalu...

RICHMOND, Va. -- Shares of Richfood Holdings Inc., the largest wholesale food distributor in the U.S. mid-Atlantic region, fell 26 percent yesterday after the company said Royal Ahold NV's Giant Food Stores Inc. unit, its largest customer, won't renew a supply contract.Richfood fell $4.125 to $11.875 in trading of 2.8 million shares, more than 13 times the three-month daily average.The Richmond, Va.-based company, with sales of $3.2 billion for the year that ended May 2, 1998, said Giant Food won't renew a supply contract that expires Dec. 31. Giant buys about $600 million of dry grocery products from Richfood annually.

In a desperate attempt to save over 600 jobs and keep Farm Fresh Supermarkets of Maryland Inc. afloat, U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge James F. Schneider held court with a handful of attorneys in his home late Sunday night, signing orders that were entered yesterday, temporarily approving $1.25 million in financing for the Baltimore-based chain.Richfood Inc., the giant Richmond, Va.-based food wholesaler, agreed to advance Farm Fresh up to $1 million in grocery supplies and lend a maximum of $250,000 for payroll and other working capital needs, according to court documents filed yesterday.

Richfood Holdings Inc., which operates the Metro grocery stores in the Baltimore area, said late yesterday that it will be acquired in a $1.5 billion deal by SuperValu Inc., a Minneapolis-based wholesale grocery supplier.The combined company would operate 36 full-service distribution centers, 296 supermarkets and 151 limited-assortment stores.SuperValu operates Cub Foods and Shop 'n Save stores, and does not have a significant presence in the mid-Atlantic area.The boards of directors of both companies have approved the acquisition, but shareholders of Richmond, Va.-based Richfood, the largest wholesale food distributor in the region, must still approve the deal, the company said.

In the first move to dismantle scandal-ridden Farm Fresh Supermarkets of Maryland Inc., eight of the Baltimore chain's 10 supermarkets will be sold to Richfood Holdings Inc. for $6.75 million, pending court approval, documents show.The sale is not expected to affect an ongoing investigation by the court-appointed trustee operating Farm Fresh, which was forced into involuntary bankruptcy proceedings last month amid allegations of fraud involving more than $1 million. The FBI also is conducting a "preliminary inquiry" into the matter.

In a bid to strengthen its supermarket business in the mid-Atlantic, Richfood Holdings Inc., which owns Metro Food Markets, has agreed to purchase Dart Group Corp. for $160 a share in cash, or about $207 million, the company said yesterday.Richmond, Va.,-based Richfood, a grocery wholesaler that has expanded into retailing, is buying Dart, a Landover-based retail holding company, primarily to acquire Shoppers Food Warehouse, a chain of 37 discount supermarkets in Maryland and Virginia and the third largest chain in metropolitan Washington, with stores in Anne Arundel, Charles, Frederick, Montgomery and Prince George's counties.

3 Farm Fresh stores turned over to MetroThe saga over Farm Fresh Supermarkets of Maryland Inc., forced into bankruptcy amid allegations of fraud, continues to play out.Richfood Holdings Inc., the Richmond, Va.-based wholesaler that recently bought eight Farm Fresh stores for $6.75 million, has handed over operations of three of the groceries to a Richfood subsidiary, Metro Food Market.The three stores -- at Greenspring and Southview shopping centers and Arbutus Shopping Plaza -- will be remodeled with "state-of-the art produce, meat, seafood and deli/bakery concepts," said Metro Food Market President John Ryder.

John Ryder, the energetic, hands-on president of the fast-growing Metro Food Market chain, said yesterday that SuperValu Inc.'s purchase of Metro's parent company should boost Metro's expansion efforts in the Baltimore-Washington area."

RICHMOND, Va. -- Shares of Richfood Holdings Inc., the largest wholesale food distributor in the U.S. mid-Atlantic region, fell 26 percent yesterday after the company said Royal Ahold NV's Giant Food Stores Inc. unit, its largest customer, won't renew a supply contract.Richfood fell $4.125 to $11.875 in trading of 2.8 million shares, more than 13 times the three-month daily average.The Richmond, Va.-based company, with sales of $3.2 billion for the year that ended May 2, 1998, said Giant Food won't renew a supply contract that expires Dec. 31. Giant buys about $600 million of dry grocery products from Richfood annually.

Crown Books Corp. said yesterday that it will begin a voluntary filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.The move comes as the Landover-based book retailer continues to struggle to keep up with Barnes and Noble Inc. and Borders Group Inc. Crown said it lost $48.7 million in 1997."

Richfood Holdings Inc., owner of Metro Food Markets, has completed its purchase of Dart Group Corp. for $160 a share, or about $207 million, the company said.Richmond, Va.-based Richfood, a grocery wholesaler that has expanded into retailing, acquired Dart, a Landover-based retail holding company, primarily to strengthen its supermarket business in the mid-Atlantic.The deal gives Richfood Shopper's Food Warehouse, a chain of 37 discount supermarkets in Maryland and Virginia and the third largest chain in metropolitan Washington, with stores in Anne Arundel, Charles, Frederick, Montgomery and Prince George's counties.

In a bid to strengthen its supermarket business in the mid-Atlantic, Richfood Holdings Inc., which owns Metro Food Markets, has agreed to purchase Dart Group Corp. for $160 a share in cash, or about $207 million, the company said yesterday.Richmond, Va.,-based Richfood, a grocery wholesaler that has expanded into retailing, is buying Dart, a Landover-based retail holding company, primarily to acquire Shoppers Food Warehouse, a chain of 37 discount supermarkets in Maryland and Virginia and the third largest chain in metropolitan Washington, with stores in Anne Arundel, Charles, Frederick, Montgomery and Prince George's counties.

3 Farm Fresh stores turned over to MetroThe saga over Farm Fresh Supermarkets of Maryland Inc., forced into bankruptcy amid allegations of fraud, continues to play out.Richfood Holdings Inc., the Richmond, Va.-based wholesaler that recently bought eight Farm Fresh stores for $6.75 million, has handed over operations of three of the groceries to a Richfood subsidiary, Metro Food Market.The three stores -- at Greenspring and Southview shopping centers and Arbutus Shopping Plaza -- will be remodeled with "state-of-the art produce, meat, seafood and deli/bakery concepts," said Metro Food Market President John Ryder.

John Ryder, the energetic, hands-on president of the fast-growing Metro Food Market chain, said yesterday that SuperValu Inc.'s purchase of Metro's parent company should boost Metro's expansion efforts in the Baltimore-Washington area."

In the first move to dismantle scandal-ridden Farm Fresh Supermarkets of Maryland Inc., eight of the Baltimore chain's 10 supermarkets will be sold to Richfood Holdings Inc. for $6.75 million, pending court approval, documents show.The sale is not expected to affect an ongoing investigation by the court-appointed trustee operating Farm Fresh, which was forced into involuntary bankruptcy proceedings last month amid allegations of fraud involving more than $1 million. The FBI also is conducting a "preliminary inquiry" into the matter.