Sainsbury

Giant Food Inc. said yesterday that its next chief operating officer will come from J. Sainsbury PLC, the British grocer that owns half of Giant's voting stock.The appointment of Michael W. Broomfield as Giant's chief operating officer marks the first time a Sainsbury executive has been chosen to fill a top management job at Giant Food, said Giant spokesman Barry F. Scher.In taking the job, Broomfield will resign from Sainsbury after 35 years and from Giant's board of directors. He will succeed Alvin Dobbin, who will retire March 1.Sainsbury, the major grocer in Britain, owns 20 percent of the nonvoting shares of Giant and controls four of nine board seats.

Albert Johnson, 73, a film critic and professor at the University of California, Berkeley, died Saturday of a heart attack in Chicago, where he was attending a film festival.Winnie Ruth Judd, 93, who spent 40 years in a mental hospital for killing two women and shipping their bodies to Los Angeles, died Friday in Phoenix. She became known across the nation as the "Trunk Murderess" after she was convicted in the Oct. 16, 1931, murders of Anne LeRoi, 32, and Hedvig "Sammy" Samuelson, 24.Alan Sainsbury, 96, who pioneered supermarkets in Britain and helped build a family grocery empire, died Wednesday at his home in Toppesfield, a village in Essex county, east of London.

In a deal that could be the first step toward a British takeover of Giant Food Inc. and an empire of Giant-affiliated stores stretching from Virginia to Maine, J. Sainsbury PLC said yesterday that it will take a big ownership stake in the Landover-based grocer.Sainsbury, the United Kingdom's No. 1 food chain, said it will buy all the Giant stock owned by the Lehrman family, which co-founded the company in 1935.The $325 million deal, the latest trans-Atlantic supermarket marriage, won't change control of Giant.

There was the assumption that if a suitor ever came calling on Giant Food Inc., the region's dominant supermarket chain built by Israel "Izzy" Cohen, it would be Britain's second largest grocer, J. Sainsbury PLC.Speculation began in 1994, when Sainsbury bought half of Giant's voting stock -- a move that ended 60 years of total family control -- and 9.5 million shares of its nonvoting common shares. It spurted again when the British grocer, which holds four of Giant's nine board seats, increased its stake in the nonvoting shares to 20 percent.

LONDON -- Walking through the big, clean, brightly lit Sainsbury's here on Cromwell Road could make native Baltimoreans think they're in their local Giant supermarket.But the similarity between the two companies goes further. Both have a history of significant family control. Both have looked for growth through expansion. And both have dominated their respective markets by keen attention to marketing and upscale goods.In fact, the wide range of products found on Sainsbury's attractively displayed shelves don't look much different from the Giant at the Rotunda.

The British grocer that owns half of Giant Food Inc.'s voting stock yesterday said it increased the size of its New England grocery chain by acquiring 12 supermarkets and two store sites.J. Sainsbury PLC said its Massachusetts-based subsidiary, Shaw's Supermarkets Inc., paid Royal Ahold NV, a Dutch retailer, $52 million in the deal.The move will add 12 supermarkets and one store site to Shaw's five stores in Connecticut, the southernmost state of its holdings. The other new Shaw's site is in Rhode Island.

LANDOVER -- Shareholders applauded another year of strong earnings. British investor David J. Sainsbury declined to comment on whether his company is going to take over the Giant Food chain. And few minutes passed without a fond invocation of Giant's late chairman, Israel "Izzy" Cohen, who died in November.In short, it was business as usual yesterday at the Giant Food Inc. annual shareholders' meeting at corporate headquarters, despite the unusual revelations a day before of a pending lawsuit over racial discrimination.

The British company that holds a minority interest in Giant Food Inc. yesterday denied published reports that it is negotiating to sell its share of the regional grocery store chain to a Dutch retailing giant."

It was business as usual at Giant Food Inc. yesterday as the board of directors took less than 60 seconds to unanimously appoint Pete L. Manos the company's chief executive officer.Like Israel "Izzy" Cohen, Giant's founder and father figure who died last week, Mr. Manos was humble in accepting the top post, recalling his friend and mentor."I think he would have been proud as punch, but at the same time, he would have pointed his finger at me and told me to take care of the business," said Mr. Manos, 58."

There was the assumption that if a suitor ever came calling on Giant Food Inc., the region's dominant supermarket chain built by Israel "Izzy" Cohen, it would be Britain's second largest grocer, J. Sainsbury PLC.Speculation began in 1994, when Sainsbury bought half of Giant's voting stock -- a move that ended 60 years of total family control -- and 9.5 million shares of its nonvoting common shares. It spurted again when the British grocer, which holds four of Giant's nine board seats, increased its stake in the nonvoting shares to 20 percent.

Giant Food Inc. said yesterday that its next chief operating officer will come from J. Sainsbury PLC, the British grocer that owns half of Giant's voting stock.The appointment of Michael W. Broomfield as Giant's chief operating officer marks the first time a Sainsbury executive has been chosen to fill a top management job at Giant Food, said Giant spokesman Barry F. Scher.In taking the job, Broomfield will resign from Sainsbury after 35 years and from Giant's board of directors. He will succeed Alvin Dobbin, who will retire March 1.Sainsbury, the major grocer in Britain, owns 20 percent of the nonvoting shares of Giant and controls four of nine board seats.

The British company that holds a minority interest in Giant Food Inc. yesterday denied published reports that it is negotiating to sell its share of the regional grocery store chain to a Dutch retailing giant."

The British grocer that owns half of Giant Food Inc.'s voting stock yesterday said it increased the size of its New England grocery chain by acquiring 12 supermarkets and two store sites.J. Sainsbury PLC said its Massachusetts-based subsidiary, Shaw's Supermarkets Inc., paid Royal Ahold NV, a Dutch retailer, $52 million in the deal.The move will add 12 supermarkets and one store site to Shaw's five stores in Connecticut, the southernmost state of its holdings. The other new Shaw's site is in Rhode Island.

LANDOVER -- Shareholders applauded another year of strong earnings. British investor David J. Sainsbury declined to comment on whether his company is going to take over the Giant Food chain. And few minutes passed without a fond invocation of Giant's late chairman, Israel "Izzy" Cohen, who died in November.In short, it was business as usual yesterday at the Giant Food Inc. annual shareholders' meeting at corporate headquarters, despite the unusual revelations a day before of a pending lawsuit over racial discrimination.

A British grocery chain that owns half of Giant Food Inc.'s voting stock boosted its stake in the Landover-based company by buying about 2 million nonvoting shares from the estate of the late chairman, Israel Cohen, company officials said yesterday.J. Sainsbury PLC paid $62 million, or $31 per share, in a purchase that increased its nonvoting stake from 16.7 percent to 19.9 percent. In the first acknowledgment of a possible takeover, the deal calls for an additional payment from Sainsbury to the estate if it takes over Giant Food within the next four years.

It was business as usual at Giant Food Inc. yesterday as the board of directors took less than 60 seconds to unanimously appoint Pete L. Manos the company's chief executive officer.Like Israel "Izzy" Cohen, Giant's founder and father figure who died last week, Mr. Manos was humble in accepting the top post, recalling his friend and mentor."I think he would have been proud as punch, but at the same time, he would have pointed his finger at me and told me to take care of the business," said Mr. Manos, 58."

Speculation about a British takeover of the region's dominant supermarket chain intensified yesterday less than 48 hours after the death of Giant Food Inc. Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Israel Cohen.Giant Class A shares rose yesterday to their highest level in more than six years, closing at $34.25, up $2.75, in heavy trading.But J. Sainsbury PLC, the No. 1 grocery chain in Great Britain with a minority ownership stake in Giant, yesterday kept a tight lid on its plans."We're very limited in what we can say at the moment," said Sainsbury spokesman David Cox from London.

The illness of Giant Food Inc. Chairman and Chief Executive Israel Cohen has pumped up the company's stock as speculation grows that J. Sainsbury PLC will make a move to acquire a controlling interest in the supermarket chain Mr. Cohen's father co-founded.Shares of Landover-based Giant rose $1.375, to $30.125 yesterday, after a report in The Observer, a London newspaper, that Sainsbury "is thought to be moving closer" to buying a majority interest.Speculation has long held that Sainsbury, Britain's leading grocer and holder of a 16 percent stake in Giant, would try to buy a majority interest in the dominant supermarket in the region.

Speculation about a British takeover of the region's dominant supermarket chain intensified yesterday less than 48 hours after the death of Giant Food Inc. Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Israel Cohen.Giant Class A shares rose yesterday to their highest level in more than six years, closing at $34.25, up $2.75, in heavy trading.But J. Sainsbury PLC, the No. 1 grocery chain in Great Britain with a minority ownership stake in Giant, yesterday kept a tight lid on its plans."We're very limited in what we can say at the moment," said Sainsbury spokesman David Cox from London.

LANDOVER -- The drama yesterday at Giant Food Inc.'s otherwise staid annual shareholder meeting centered on who was there and who wasn't.In attendance: The natty David J. Sainsbury, chairman and chief executive of J. Sainsbury PLC, scion of the founder of Britain's No. 1 grocer.Absent: The charismatic Israel "Izzy" Cohen, Giant's 82-year-old chairman and chief executive, who was recently diagnosed as ** having a bone marrow disorder.There's a connection: Mr. Cohen's illness has fueled speculation that Landover-based Giant, the region's dominant supermarket chain, may be acquired by Sainsbury, already a minority stakeholder.