EXHIBIT 99.1
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION:
Analysts/Investors: Media:
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Jeffrey P. Freimark Susanne Marsh
Executive Vice President and CFO Manager, Corporate Communications
The Grand Union Company The Grand Union Company
(973) 890-6340 (518) 877-0289, ext. 312
[email protected] [email protected]
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and and
Mark Gross Kimberly Kriger or Jim Fingeroth
C&S Wholesale Grocers Inc. Kekst and Company
(802) 257-6025 (212) 521-4800
[email protected]
GRAND UNION ANNOUNCES RESULTS OF AUCTION TO SELL ASSETS
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WAYNE, NJ, NOVEMBER 17, 2000 - The Grand Union Company (OTC BB: GUCO), announced
today that following the auction of its assets held yesterday, it will be
proceeding with the previously announced agreement for the purchase by C&S
Wholesale Grocers, Inc. of substantially all of the Company's assets and
business. C&S, which is Grand Union's principal supplier, will pay $301.8
million in cash upon closing of the transaction. Included in the assets to be
acquired are 185 of Grand Union's 197 stores and the Company's distribution
center in Montgomery, New York. C&S intends to operate certain of these stores
and to assign its right to purchase certain other of these stores to other
supermarket operators. The closing of the transaction remains subject to
customary closing conditions, including governmental antitrust approval and
Bankruptcy Court approval.
The Company also announced that as a result of the auction it entered into a
definitive agreement to sell the store and building owned by the Company at
124-138 Bleecker Street in New York City to New York University for
approximately $24 million. The sale is subject to Bankruptcy Court approval.
Grand Union filed a voluntary chapter 11 petition in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court
in Newark, New Jersey on October 3, 2000, with the stated intention to
facilitate the planned sale of the Company and provide for additional funding
during the sale process.
Grand Union operates 197 retail food stores in Connecticut, New Jersey, New
York, Pennsylvania and Vermont.
Some of the matters discussed herein are "forward-looking statements" within the
meaning of the private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such
forward-looking statements are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors
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that could cause actual results to differ materially from future results
expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. For additional
information about the Company and its various risk factors, please see the
Company's most recent form 10-K for the fiscal year ended April 1, 2000, as
filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on June 30, 2000, and form
10-Q for the fiscal quarter ended July 22, 2000, as filed with the Securities
and Exchange Commission on September 1, 2000.
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