该公司前首席执行官在法庭上作证称，这家杂货巨头尽了应尽的努力，以争取监管部门批准其与艾伯森公司价值246亿美元的并购交易。此前，该交易因反垄断原因被阻，目前艾伯森正要求赔偿。
Co.’s former chief executive officer testified in court that the grocery giant did what it was required to do to secure regulatory approval for a $24.6 billion merger with Albertsons Co., which is now demanding damages after the deal was blocked for antitrust reasons.
罗德尼·麦克穆伦周二向特拉华州衡平法院法官洛里·威尔表示，由于时任主席莉娜·汗领导下的美国联邦贸易委员会对整体并购持强硬阻挠态度，这笔交易“不幸从一开始就注定要失败”。在联邦法院裁定阻止该交易并于2024年12月支持美国联邦贸易委员会后，艾伯森取消了这笔交易。
Rodney McMullen told Delaware Chancery Court Judge Lori Will on Tuesday that the transaction “was just doomed from the beginning, unfortunately,” because of stiff resistance from the US Federal Trade Commission under then-chair Lina Khan to mergers generally. Albertsons called off the deal after a federal court blocked it and sided with the FTC in December 2024.
威尔正在审判中听取证词，以判定克罗格是否应对并购失败负责，预计将在两周内有大约30名证人出庭作证。
Will is hearing testimony at a trial to determine whether Kroger is responsible for the merger’s failure, with around 30 witnesses slated to testify over two weeks.
艾伯森在诉讼中指控克罗格违反了并购协议，未能提出足够资产剥离方案以获得监管部门批准合并旗下4000多家门店，而是专注于实现内部利润目标。克罗格则表示，其为推进并购及与反垄断监管机构的诉讼战花费了超过10亿美元。
Albertsons accused Kroger in a lawsuit of breaching the merger agreement by failing to propose an adequate package of assets to sell to secure regulatory approval for combining more than 4,000 stores, focusing instead on achieving internal profit targets. Kroger says it spent more than $1 billion to pursue the merger and its litigation fight with antitrust regulators.
该交易设想由美国最大杂货连锁店克罗格收购排名第二的艾伯森，以便更好地与亚马逊公司、沃尔玛公司及其他企业竞争。为了获得监管部门批准，克罗格和艾伯森同意向C&S批发杂货公司出售数百家门店。并购协议规定出售的门店不超过650家。
The deal envisioned Kroger, the largest US grocery chain, buying No. 2 Albertsons to better compete against Amazon.com Inc., Walmart Inc. and others. To obtain regulatory approval, Kroger and Albertsons agreed to sell hundreds of stores to C&S Wholesale Grocers Inc. The merger agreement called for no more than 650 stores to be sold.
艾伯森要求克罗格支付逾93亿美元。其中包括6亿美元的终止费以及利息和成本，还有超过80亿美元的赔偿，艾伯森称这是股东本可从交易中获得的溢价损失以及这些收益的税款。为了获得赔偿，艾伯森必须证明克罗格明知故犯地违反了并购协议。艾伯森还试图证明，所谓的违约行为使得该交易完成的可能性降低。
Albertsons wants Kroger to pay more than $9.3 billion. That includes a $600 million termination fee plus interest and costs, and more than $8 billion for what Albertsons says was a lost premium stockholders would have reaped from the deal and taxes on those gains. To get damages, Albertsons must prove Kroger knowingly breached the merger agreement. Albertsons is also seeking to show that the alleged breaches made it less likely the deal would close.
在麦克穆伦作证的前一天，艾伯森前首席执行官维韦克·桑卡兰向法官表示，克罗格未能尽一切可能促成并购获得批准。桑卡兰描述了随着并购面临日益严峻的监管挑战，麦克穆伦如何变得不再那么积极回应。
McMullen’s testimony came a day after former Albertsons chief executive officer Vivek Sankaran told the judge that Kroger failed to do everything possible to get the merger approved. Sankaran described how McMullen became less responsive as the deal faced increasing regulatory challenges.
因董事会对其个人操守进行调查而于2025年3月辞职的麦克穆伦表示，他离职的环境与并购或其工作表现无关。此前，法官曾阻止艾伯森获取有关麦克穆伦操守的内部记录。
McMullen, who resigned in March 2025 following a board investigation into his personal conduct, said the circumstances around his departure weren’t linked to the merger or his job performance. The judge previously blocked Albertsons from accessing internal records regarding McMullen’s conduct.
在周二的证词中，麦克穆伦表示，他曾与艾伯森最大股东、私募股权公司博枫资本管理公司前首席执行官斯蒂芬·范伯格亲自就并购协议中的终止费和650家门店上限进行了谈判。他还为自己对艾伯森的回应态度进行了辩护，称他依靠克罗格内部在某些领域更有专业知识的人来回答问题。
During testimony on Tuesday, McMullen said he personally negotiated the termination fee and the 650-store limit for the merger agreement with Stephen Feinberg, the former CEO of private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management, Albertsons’ largest shareholder. He also defended his responsiveness to Albertsons, saying that he relied on others at Kroger who had more expertise in certain areas to answer questions.
艾伯森的一名律师就麦克穆伦对剥离资产包行使了多少影响力对其进行了盘问，并指出了他权衡某些门店财务方面的几个例子。艾伯森指控克罗格优先考虑达到财务目标，而不是满足监管机构的要求。
A lawyer for Albertsons questioned McMullen about how much influence he exercised over the divestiture package, pointing to examples of where he weighed in on the financial aspects of certain stores. Albertsons has alleged that Kroger prioritized hitting financial targets over satisfying regulators.
麦克穆伦表示，他在门店挑选过程中扮演了“有限的角色”，并且只询问了大约五家门店的情况。他表示，他从未坚持对剥离资产包进行修改。他还表示，克罗格依靠反垄断法律顾问的建议来确定要出售的门店和资产，并补充说，如果美国联邦贸易委员会要求，公司会出售650家门店。
McMullen said he had a “limited role” in the store selection process and only asked questions about five stores. He said he never insisted that changes be made to the divestiture packages. He also said Kroger relied on the advice of antitrust counsel to come up with the stores and assets that were to be sold, adding that the company would have sold 650 stores if the FTC had asked.
该案件为Albertsons v. Kroger, 2024-1276, Court of Chancery, State of Delaware。
The case is Albertsons v. Kroger, 2024-1276, Court of Chancery, State of Delaware.