Cerberus Nears Deal to Buy Supervalu, Nation’s Third Largest Supermarket Chain

(Reuters) – Private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management LP and its partners are nearing an agreement to buy parts of Supervalu Inc. (NYSE: SVU), and an announcement could come as soon as next week, a person familiar with the matter said on Friday.

Cerberus and its partners plan to buy some assets of the company and take a stake in the remainder, which is expected to remain public, The Wall Street Journal reported earlier. Shares of Supervalu, the third largest U.S. supermarket chain, jumped 17 percent on the news.

Cerberus would contribute around $500 million in equity, several hundred million less than initially discussed, the Journal said.

A Supervalu spokesman said on Friday the company’s review of strategic alternatives was proceeding and that it was in “active discussions with several parties.” He declined to comment further.

Cerberus declined to comment.

Shares of Supervalu rose 47 cents to $3.06 on the New York Stock Exchange.

(Reporting by Greg Roumeliotis and Olivia Oran in New York and Lisa Baertlein in Los Angeles; editing by John Wallace and Leslie Adler)

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