By Patrick Thomas

Kroger abandoned its planned acquisition of rival grocer Albertsons in December, but in the courts, fighting over the deal continues.

Food distributor C&S Wholesale Grocers is suing Kroger for allegedly refusing to pay a $125 million termination fee after the deal fell apart.

C&S agreed last year to acquire nearly 600 stores that would have been divested as part of the more than $20 billion Kroger-Albertsons deal, but the transaction was dropped after a federal judge in Oregon blocked it in December.

"Kroger failed to identify any reason for its refusal to pay the termination fee it owed C&S-because there is none," C&S said in its suit filed in Delaware state court.

A Kroger spokeswoman said the lawsuit was baseless and that C&S forfeited its right to the fee. Kroger didn't specify how C&S forfeited the payment but said the grocery distributor has no reasonable claim to any damages.

Albertsons separately sued Kroger in December for refusing to pay a $600 million termination fee, and for not doing enough to secure regulatory approval for the deal.

The C&S suit comes two weeks after Kroger's longtime CEO, Rodney McMullen, resigned following a board investigation of his personal conduct. The company said the conduct was unrelated to Kroger's business but violated its business ethics policy.

This item is part of a Wall Street Journal live coverage event. The full stream can be found by searching P/WSJL (WSJ Live Coverage).

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

March 17, 2025 15:29 ET (19:29 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2025 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.