Federal judge temporarily halts proposed merger of Kroger and Albertsons supermarkets

A federal judge has temporarily suspended a proposed merger between supermarket giants Kroger and Albertsons, a move that could derail the deal.

U.S. District Court Judge Adrienne Nelson issued the ruling Tuesday after holding a hearing. three-week hearing in Portland, Oregon.

Kroger and Albertsons proposed in 2022 what the largest grocery store merger in the history of the United States. But the Federal Trade Commission sued earlier this year, he asked Nelson to block the $24.6 billion deal until an internal FTC administrative law judge could review the merger’s implications.

Nelson agreed to suspend the merger.

“The harms suffered by defendants as a result of the injunction do not outweigh the strong public interest in antitrust enforcement, particularly given the difficulty of unraveling a premature merger,” a- she writes in her opinion.