Sobeys one step closer to closing Canada Safeway purchase

They haven't ordered up the Green Sobeys signs just yet, but developments this week would seem to be bringing Prince Rupert Grocery shoppers closer to finding their local Canada Safeway turned into a member of the Sobeys Grocery chain.

Canada's Competition Bureau gave regulatory clearance on Tuesday for Sobeys to move forward with its purchase of the Western Canadian Grocery chain, with the provision that they sell 23 stores stretching from BC to Manitoba.

Most, but not all of those stores are in larger markets, where competition concerns were expressed over the planned 5.8 billion dollar purchase.

As we outlined in June, the Atlantic based Sobeys chain finalized its plans at that time to become a cross-canada force in the grocery sector.

The announcement of their blockbuster purchase of the
Western Canadian grocery chain, one that highlighted the changing nature of the grocery industry across Canada.

In a media release from Tuesday, Sobeys outlined that they expect to close the deal in November and then to turn their attention to serving customers in Western Canada as one company.

No actual timeline for the conversion of Safeway to Sobeys was outlined on Tuesday.

Some background on the competition Bureau's ruling can be found below:

National Post-- Sobeys ordered to sell 23 stores from Canada Safeway deal
Globe and Mail-- Sobeys to sell 23 stores in Western Canada
Halifax Chronicle-Herald-- Sobeys told to sell 23 stores for Safeway deal OK