WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The top Republican on a U.S. Senate antitrust panel, Senator Mike Lee, promised on Friday that there would be significant oversight of a plan by Kroger Co to buy rival Albertsons Cos Inc.
“Utahns, like all Americans, are suffering from skyrocketing food prices,” Lee said in a statement. “I will do everything in my power to ensure our antitrust laws are robustly enforced to protect consumers from anticompetitive mergers that could further exacerbate the financial strain we already feel in the grocery store checkout aisle.” The $24.6 billion deal was announced Friday.
(Reporting by Diane Bartz)