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Feb. 26—Calling it "anti-competitive" and contending the move would "threaten fair market dynamics," state Attorney General Raúl Torrez on Monday joined a lawsuit with several other attorneys general and the Federal Trade Commission to block the multibillion-dollar merger between supermarket giants Kroger and Albertsons.
Torrez said Monday in an interview the merger is not in the interest of everyday New Mexicans, claiming it could keep food prices high and adversely affect workers' wages.
"At this point, my sense is that this merger — given the market power these two competitors have — is something that changes the balance in a way that disadvantages working people," Torrez said.
The lawsuit filed Monday, led by the Federal Trade Commission, comes as some state and federal officials have expressed anger in recent months over market consolidation in an industry that has seen food prices rise precipitously for consumers following the coronavirus pandemic, partly an effect of supply chain disruptions and labor costs.
The $24.6 billion deal for Albertsons Cos. to join Kroger is widely considered to be the biggest supermarket merger in the country's history.
New Mexico Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver last August joined in a letter with other secretaries of state to the FTC, urging the regulator to block the merger. They said a Kroger-Albertsons consolidation could mean "no competitive incentive to bring down prices and ... consumers will be powerless to hold the company accountable to promises of keeping prices low."
Torrez, who for the first time is publicly condemning the merger, said his decision to join the lawsuit — which also includes attorneys general from Arizona, California, the District of Columbia, Illinois, Maryland, Nevada, Oregon and Wyoming — is to keep shopping options open for "families on the margins."
Kroger and Albertsons already dominate much of the local supermarket picture in the state.
Kroger, which operates the Smith's storefront, has 24 stores in New Mexico; two are in Santa Fe, spokeswoman Erin Rolfes said. There also are about a half-dozen Albertsons stores and nearly two dozen Albertsons Market locations in New Mexico — two in Santa Fe — managed under a wholly-owned subsidiary, United Supermarkets.
In announcing plans last year to get the deal through, the companies said they would sell about 12 Albertsons locations in New Mexico to the company C&S Wholesale Grocers — which manages the supermarket brands Piggly Wiggly and Grand Union.