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Veterans Will Return to Chain

Posted on: Wednesday, 22 March 2006, 06:00 CST

By Barry Shlachter, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Texas

Mar. 22--Albertsons will get a new old team when its sale becomes final this year.

Investors who agreed to buy 655 Albertsons stores in North Texas, California, Florida and the Southwest have quietly named a management team that includes many with long experience at the Boise, Idaho-based chain.

An internal memo obtained by the Star-Telegram said that William Emmons, who was president of the Dallas-Fort Worth division when he left in 2001, will get his old job back.

Emmons, who has been running Rite Aid pharmacies in Michigan and northern Ohio, had held numerous field-management posts for Albertsons and was at one point regional president of six Southern and Southeastern states. An Albertsons spokeswoman said Emmons was not available to comment.

The memo, received by employees Tuesday, followed last week's announcement that Robert Miller, Rite Aid's chairman and a 30-year Albertsons veteran, will be chief executive when the purchase becomes final sometime in mid-2006. He will retain his Rite Aid post but give up chairmanship of the Colorado-based Wild Oats Markets, an upscale grocery chain specializing in organic foods.

Miller has been credited with turning around the ailing Fred Meyer grocery chain and then negotiating its 1999 sale to Kroger. After serving as a Kroger vice president and chief operating officer, he went on to resuscitate Rite Aid.

"I am excited that I will be back in the grocery business, in areas I am familiar with from my past," he said in a statement released by the new owners. "Our goal will be to build a successful operation by focusing on what is important to our customers in each market. I have spent time working in each of the regions we will be operating."

On Jan. 23, Albertsons agreed to sell all of its stores for $17.4 billion. The Minneapolis-based SuperValu will operate 1,100 Albertsons stores in the Midwest and Northeast.

The Cerberus group, which includes Kimco Realty Corp., Schottenstein Stores Corp., Lubert-Adler Partners and Klaff Realty, will run the remaining 655 grocery stores. These include 147 Albertsons and 11 Super Saver stores in Texas.

The 703 free-standing drugstores are being bought by CVS Corp.

The Idaho Statesman of Boise reported that the sale received regulatory approval from the Federal Trade Commission last week. But the deal still requires support from shareholders at Albertsons and SuperValu. No shareholder votes have been announced yet, it said.

Cerberus' memo said Rick Navarro, who left Albertsons in 2003, is returning as chief financial officer. He has been a consultant to casino owner Harrah's Entertainment, on whose board Miller sits.

Other veterans who will work with the company will include Mike McCarthy, Bob Butler, Wayne Denningham, John Sheehan and Robert Colgrove.

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Barry Shlachter, (817) 390-7718 barry@star-telegram.com

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Copyright (c) 2006, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Texas

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Source: Fort Worth Star-Telegram (Fort Worth, Texas)

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