Bloomberg: Cerberus Capital Management lead bidder for Safeway

NEW YORK — New Albertsons is on its way to becoming more than 1,300 stores larger. Cerberus Capital Management is the lead bidder for Safeway, according to a Bloomberg report published Saturday that cited people with knowledge of the matter. 

Cerberus is the only firm willing to swallow Safeway whole, the paper reported. 

"While other private-equity firms also have expressed interest in buying the second-largest grocery chain in the U.S., they are more interested in cherry-picking assets, people familiar with the situation have said," Bloomberg reported. "Safeway is not interested in selling off pieces and would prefer to be sold in its entirety, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the process is private."

Last year, a Cerberus-led investor group agreed to acquire Supervalu’s Albertsons, Acme, Jewel-Osco, Shaw’s and Star Market grocery stores in a transaction valued at about $3.3 billion.