The Jacksonville-based parent company of the Winn-Dixie supermarket chain announced an agreement Aug. 16 to sell the company to supermarket operator Aldi.
Southeastern Grocers Inc. said it is selling about 400 Winn-Dixie and Harveys supermarkets in Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi to Aldi.
Southeastern Grocers also operates 28 stores under the Fresco y Más banner, which will be sold separately to an investment group called Fresco Retail Group LLC.
Aldi said it will convert some of the Winn-Dixie and Harveys stores to the Aldi brand but continue to operate the rest under the Winn-Dixie and Harveys banners.
“Like ALDI, Winn-Dixie and Harveys Supermarket have long histories and many loyal customers in the Southeast and we look forward to serving them in the years to come,” Aldi CEO Jason Hart said in a news release.
Winn-Dixie traces its roots back to the 1920s when the Davis family opened a store in Miami and began expanding with other stores.
The company established its headquarters in Jacksonville in 1944 and after a series of transactions, the company was named Winn-Dixie Stores Inc. in 1955.
Winn-Dixie struggled in the early 2000s and went through a Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization in 2005 and 2006.
Winn-Dixie merged with Bi-Lo Holdings in 2012 to form Southeastern Grocers.
Southeastern went through a prepackaged Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization in 2018, with a group of investment funds taking control of the company.
The company filed plans for an initial public offering in 2020 but pulled the IPO off the market in January 2021, and it has been the subject of buyout rumors since that time.
“Our successful transformational journey has created a unique opportunity with leading partners who share our vision and common commitments to creating value for their customers,” Southeastern Grocers CEO Anthony Hucker said in a news release.
“We believe these next steps will fuel a phenomenal experience for our customers, new opportunities for our associates and increased value for our shareholders,” he said.
Aldi is a discount grocery chain started in Germany in 1961 that now has a U.S. headquarters in Batavia, Illinois.
The company opened its first Northeast Florida store in St. Augustine in 2014.
Aldi has more than 2,400 U.S. stores and its acquisition of Southeastern Grocers is part of its growth strategy, the company said.
Privately owned Aldi and Southeastern Grocers did not announce terms of the buyout and did not say what will happen to Southeastern Grocers’ headquarters operation in Jacksonville.
Aldi said it has a regional headquarters and distribution center in Loxley, Alabama, to support its operations in the Southeast.
Privately owned Aldi and Southeastern Grocers did not announce terms of the buyout.
In response to a question about the deal, Southeastern Grocers said in an emailed statement: "ALDI has shared that they respect the accomplishments of SEG and its leadership team, and that they anticipate very few changes at the Store Support Center in Jacksonville following the completion of the transaction."
The companies hope to complete the transaction in the first half of 2024.