LOCAL BUSINESS
Save-A-Lot isn’t part of sale
Grocer company Supervalu Inc. has agreed to sell its four largest conventional supermarket chains to an investor group led by Cerberus Capital Management — a deal valued at $3.3 billion — while Cerberus also plans to buy up to 30 percent of the embattled firm’s stock for $4 per share.
With the deal, Eden Prairie, Minn.-based Supervalu will remain an independent, publicly traded company, albeit a smaller one.
Supervalu said Thursday that a Cerberus-led investor group will pay $100 million for Albertsons, Acme (not related to Acme Fresh Markets of Akron), Jewel and Shaw’s/Star Markets, and take on $3.2 billion in Supervalu’s debt. The deal includes 877 Supervalu-owned stores.
Save-A-Lot, a national discount grocery chain with Akron operations, will remain with Supervalu, as will five regional grocery chains. The Cerberus investor group includes Kimco Realty Corp., Klaff Realty LP, Lubert-Adler Partners and Schottenstein Real Estate Group. Cerberus is a large New York-based private equity firm.
A Cerberus-led group will buy Supervalu stock at $4 per share, a 50 percent premium to its average closing price over the 30 days before Jan. 9.
In 2012, Supervalu’s stock hit lows not seen in at least 30 years.
AUTO INDUSTRY
Nissan expands in Mississippi
Nissan said it will assemble its Murano crossover vehicle in its Canton, Miss., plant beginning in late 2014. Nissan will add 400 jobs to its current total of more than 5,000. Nissan wouldn’t say how much it will spend to start making Muranos there. Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant says the state isn’t offering additional incentives.
Nissan now makes the Murano in Kyushu, Japan. Canton will be the only worldwide assembly location.
It would be the eighth model for the plant north of Jackson, Miss. Nissan already assembles the Altima and Sentra sedans, Armada and Xterra SUVs, Titan and Frontier pickup trucks and NV vans in Canton.
GM to open Georgia center
General Motors says a new information technology center in Roswell, Ga., in suburban Atlanta — the third of four planned by the nation’s largest automaker — is expected to open by March and create 1,000 white-collar jobs as part of its new focus on producing software and other applications in-house.
The automaker is hiring software developers, project managers, database experts, business analysts and other information technology professionals.
PHARMACEUTICALS
Diabetes drug recommended
A panel of federal health experts has ruled that an experimental diabetes drug from Johnson & Johnson is safe and effective, though lingering safety questions must be tracked in long-term studies.
The Food and Drug Administration’s panel of diabetes experts voted 10-5 in favor of J&J’s canagliflozin to treat type 2 diabetes. The drug is part of a new class of medications that work by increasing the levels of blood sugar excreted via urine.
Panelists said the drug could be useful in combination with existing diabetes medications. However, they raised concerns about low levels of heart attack, stroke and urinary tract infections seen in the first year of testing. Almost all panelists recommended that the company track those problems over time to tell whether they get worse.
WALL STREET
Dow Jones increases 80 points
The Dow Jones industrial average gained 80.71 points Thursday, or 0.6 percent, to 13,471.22.
Five days after closing at its highest level since December 2007, the S&P 500 cleared its five-year closing high of 1,466.47. The S&P 500 added 11.10 points, or 0.8 percent, to 1,472.12.
The Nasdaq composite ended at 3,121.76, up 15.95 points, or 0.5 percent.
Compiled from staff and wire reports