Spartan Stores and Nash Finch Co. announced their intention to merge over the summer in an all-stock merger valued at approximately $1.3 billion, including existing net debt at each company. That merger is now official after a vote by shareholders held Monday. More than 99 percent of Spartan Stores shareholders and more than 98 percent of Nash Finch shareholders voted in favor of the merger.
Spartan Stores Inc. now uses the corporate name SpartanNash Co.
The combined company will continue to conduct business as Spartan Stores, Nash Finch and MDV in their respective markets.
“This merger brings together two highly complementary organizations to form a leader in the grocery wholesale, retail and military commissary and exchange channels,” said Dennis Eidson, president and CEO of Spartan Stores. “We would like to thank all of our stakeholders, including our shareholders, associates, customers and suppliers, for their support in completing this significant achievement. We look forward to leveraging our new platform with its broader customer base and geographic reach to create significant long-term value for our shareholders.”
There is no official word yet on where SpartanNash will be headquartered, but media reports indicate that while there is a chance it will be in Edina, Minn., where Nash Finch Co. had its corporate offices, it more likely will be Grand Rapids, Mich., where Spartan Stores is based.
Under the terms of the merger agreement, each share of Nash Finch common stock was converted into 1.20 shares of Spartan Stores common stock. Former Spartan Stores shareholders own approximately 57.7 percent of the equity of the combined company and former Nash Finch shareholders own approximately 42.3 percent. The combined company has approximately 38 million shares outstanding.
SpartanNash’s board of directors includes seven directors from Spartan Stores’ previous board and four directors from Nash Finch’s previous board. In addition to Craig Sturken, who will serve as chairman of the board of directors and Eidson, the other members of the board include: M. Shan Atkins, Frank M. Gambino, Yvonne R. Jackson, Elizabeth A. Nickels and Timothy J. O’Donovan, former members of the board of directors of Spartan Stores; and William R. Voss, Mickey P. Foret, Douglas A. Hacker and Hawthorne L. Proctor, former members of the board of directors of Nash Finch.
Along with completing the merger, SpartanNash changed its fiscal year end from the last Saturday in March to the Saturday closest to Dec. 31
SpartanNash is now the largest food distributor serving military commissaries and exchanges in the U.S. in terms of revenue. The company’s core businesses include distributing food to military commissaries and exchanges and independent and corporate-owned retail stores located in 44 states and the District of Columbia, Europe, Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Azores, Bahrain and Egypt. SpartanNash currently operates 177 supermarkets, primarily under the banners of Family Fare Supermarkets, No Frills, Bag ‘n Save and Econofoods.
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