The merger agreement between the Dutch supermarket operator Ahold and the Delhaize Group of Belgium on Wednesday reflected yet another sign of the malaise hanging over the grocery business in the United States.
While the deal would, if approved, create one of the largest supermarket operators in the United States, marrying Delhaize’s Food Lion and Hannaford chains to Stop & Shop and Giant stores owned by Ahold, the move followed a string of grocery store mergers and a burst of new competitors across the United States.
With the companies generating roughly two-thirds of their sales in the United States, their merger is expected to help them compete better with Safeway and Albertson’s, which recently merged, and with Walmart Stores, which has the largest grocery business in the country.
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