Publix Spends $500M for Albertson's Florida Stores

Orlando, Fla. The price tag for the 49 Albertson’s LLC store locations in Florida being bought by Publix Super Markets is about $500 million, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The deal, which is expected to finalize in September, includes stores owned by Albertson’s and stores subject to ground leases and traditional leases, the filing said. Publix said it would finance the purchase with internally generated funds or liquid assets.

All the Albertson’s stores will be closed for some period of time, depending on how long it takes to make improvements, the filing said. Publix expects to open substantially all the stores in one month to 18 months after the deal closes.

In addition to the Albertson’s store purchases, Publix said it would spend $352 million for capital expenditures in the remainder of 2008, primarily on new supermarkets, remodeling certain existing locations, constructing a second data center, adding new or enhanced information technology hardware and applications, and installing emergency backup generators.