Officials from seven U.S. states wrote to U.S. antitrust enforcers on Wednesday to ask for Kroger’s proposed $24.6-billion acquisition of Albertsons to be stopped.
In a letter to Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Chair Lina Khan, the secretaries of state said that the deal would give a combined Kroger/Albertsons nearly a quarter of the U.S. food retail market.
“We are strongly opposed to this merger and urge you to stop this corporate consolidation that is draining Americans of their hard-earned wages and livelihoods,” wrote the secretaries of state from Colorado, Arizona, Maine, Minnesota, New Mexico, Rhode Island and Vermont.
Kroger did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The FTC declined comment.
Staffers for the Federal Trade Commission, which is doing a federal antitrust probe into the deal announced in October, have reached out to experts in farming, food desserts and smaller grocery chains, according to people who spoke with the agency.